Technical asset management as basis for rational planning of railroad infrastructure maintenance and development – assumptions and systems review

The paper deals with the application of the method and systems for technical asset management in the process of the planning of railroad infrastructure maintenance and development. Due to the scale of operations of rail infrastructure managers, the application of appropriate management methods and IT tools supporting decision making, keeps increasingly resulting in the condition of the effectiveness for this measure. Technical asset management as part of Asset Management is an activity aimed at achieving a balance between factors such as: costs, risk, and efficiency, in such a way so as to meet the objectives of the infrastructure manager. The paper presents assumptions and the most important features with functionalities of systems used to manage technical assets. A review of systems including an assessment of their advanced technology and main implementations in entities related to railroad infrastructure have been presented. As a result of systems review, key areas of future use and related benefits have been identified.