Predictive maintenance for metro and urban rail

Stop Reactive Maintenance. Start Predictive Control.

Rail infrastructure performs best when it is maintained proactively. But many rail networks still rely on reactive repairs, leading to higher costs, unexpected disruptions and unnecessary rail replacements. A smarter approach focuses on understanding the real condition of the rail and acting before small defects turn into major problems. By combining rail condition monitoring, preventive grinding and targeted milling, operators can stabilize rail wear early, remove deeper damage when necessary and keep their infrastructure performing at its best.

With mapl-e rail monitoring, High Speed Grinding and Vossloh Track Milling, Vossloh provides the technologies needed for a modern predictive maintenance strategy. The result: longer rail life, higher track availability and significantly lower lifecycle costs.

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Claudio Sawczen Jr.

Sales – Brazil / Peru

Mobile: +55 11 98433 8288

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Pierre Leon

Regional Sales Director South America & Spain

Phone: +33 6 64 56 16 47

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Integrated Technologies for Predictive Rail Maintenance

Rail condition monitoring with mapl-e provides data needed for informed maintenance decisions. HSG-city stabilizes rail wear at an early stage through preventive grinding, while VTM-compact removes deeper defects when corrective milling is required.

  • mapl-e:  mapl-e visualizes rail condition data on an intuitive map, enables flexible analysis, and supports optimized maintenance decisions.
  • HSG-city: HSG-city measures rail condition at high speed during operation, automatically uploads the data, and enables precisely planned maintenance work.
  • VTM-compact: VTM-compact performs precise rail milling to remove defects exactly where needed, reducing both investment and operating costs.

Explore the Technologies

Get to know the technologies that make predictive rail maintenance possible and discover how mapl-e, HSG-City and VTM-compact support efficient rail maintenance.

Rail condition monitoring and maintenance intelligence

mapl-e is a cloud-based rail condition monitoring platform that helps operators understand the real condition of their infrastructure. Measurement data collected along the track is automatically uploaded and visualized on an intuitive map interface. This allows maintenance teams to quickly identify critical areas, analyze defects and plan targeted interventions based on reliable data rather than assumptions.

 

Key Benefits

  • Clear visualization of rail condition on an interactive map
  • Flexible analysis and simulation of maintenance scenarios
  • Optimized maintenance planning based on real rail data

Preventive grinding during regular operation

HSG-city enables preventive rail grinding at operating speeds of up to 60 km/h, allowing maintenance to be performed during regular service hours with minimal disruption. By stabilizing rail wear early and maintaining optimal rail profiles, HSG prevents the development of deeper defects while reducing noise and extending rail life.

 

Key Benefits

  • Speed: Grinding during operation at 8–60 km/h
  • Effectively removes corrugations with an optimized longitudinal profile
  • Service Life Extension: Prolongs the lifespan of rails, contributing to overall infrastructure sustainability.
  • Cost Reduction: Lowers long-term maintenance expenses, making railway management more economical.
  • Operational Safety: Enhances safety measures by ensuring rails are well-maintained and functioning correctly.
  • Traffic Management: Reduces disruptions in traffic, allowing for smoother and uninterrupted service.
  • Surface Repair: Grinding out surface cracks and corrugations to maintain rail integrity.
  • Rail Surface Improvement: Enhancing the rail surface to improve performance and safety.
  • Noise Emission Reduction: Minimizing noise levels associated with rail operations, contributing to a quieter environment.

Precise milling for targeted rail defect removal

VTM-compact is a compact rail milling machine designed for the precise removal of medium and severe rail defects. Using circumferential milling technology, it restores the rail profile with controlled material removal while maintaining high surface quality. The targeted approach allows operators to correct defects efficiently without replacing rails.

 

Key Benefits

  • Targeted removal of severe rail defects
  • Up to 15× more cost-effective than rail replacement
  • Restores rail profile with up to 2 mm removal per pass
  • Targeted removal of of medium and severe rail defects in highly stressed zones
  • Supports long-term rail quality by complementing preventive grinding
  • Reduces safety risks and helps optimize lifecycle costs

 

Typical Applications

  • Head checks
  • Breakouts
  • Deep deformations in the rail head

Lower Investment. Lower Operating Cost.

Most networks overspend on oversized equipment or late interventions. Vossloh focuses on what your rail actually needs - preventive treatment, targeted correction and data-driven planning.

Spend less on unnecessary equipment

Many rail maintenance machines include equipment that are not required for maintenance tasks. Our technologies focus on what really matters: treating the rail. By eliminating unnecessary systems, operators can significantly reduce investment costs.

Reduce corrective interventions by acting earlier

When rail defects are addressed early, they can often be stabilized with preventive maintenance instead of costly corrective interventions. Acting at the right time helps prevent small issues from developing into larger defects that require more complex repairs.

Treat only what actually needs treatment

In many cases, entire track sections are treated even though defects occur only in specific areas. Targeted maintenance allows operators to focus interventions exactly where they are needed, reducing unnecessary work while maintaining optimal rail condition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn more about predictive rail maintenance and how technologies like mapl-e, HSG-City and VTM-compact support efficient rail infrastructure management.

Predictive rail maintenance uses measurement data and condition monitoring to identify rail defects before they develop into serious damage. By combining rail monitoring, preventive grinding and targeted milling, operators can plan maintenance proactively instead of reacting to failures. Proactive and preventive measures with grinding is crucial for maintaining the rails in optimal condition, delaying  and avoiding the occurrence of defects, and ensuring sustainable rail quality.

Vossloh technologies focus on the specific maintenance task instead of integrating unnecessary systems such as traction units. By concentrating on the core function - treating the rail - machines like HSG-City and VTM-compact can deliver highly effective rail treatment with significantly lower investment and operating costs. This targeted approach allows operators to invest in the maintenance capability they actually need.

mapl-e is a cloud-based platform that collects and visualizes rail condition data on an interactive map. It helps operators identify critical sections, analyze defects and plan maintenance based on real infrastructure data rather than assumptions.

In many cases, rail replacement is not necessary and can be significantly more expensive than targeted maintenance. Technologies such as grinding and milling can remove wear and defects while restoring the rail profile, extending the service life of the infrastructure. By maintaining the rail condition early and addressing defects when they occur, operators can avoid costly replacements, reduce track closures and keep networks running efficiently.

Each technology addresses a different stage of rail wear. Monitoring comes first to identify where and when intervention is actually needed and to distinguish between sections suitable for preventive work and those requiring corrective action. On this basis, regular grinding is used as a light, frequent intervention to stabilize rail condition and delay defect growth. Milling is then applied only where monitoring shows that the rail has deteriorated beyond the effective range of grinding and the profile must be restored. This monitoring → grinding → milling sequence minimizes heavy interventions and rail replacement while optimizing lifecycle costs and availability. Together, they enable a structured and efficient predictive maintenance strategy.

Why Vossloh

As a long-standing service provider & machine manufacturer, we understand customer needs and know the track in all weathers. Our expertise spans decades of rail maintenance and innovation, allowing us to anticipate challenges and develop tailored solutions for every environment. We combine cutting-edge technology with hands-on experience to ensure efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective track maintenance worldwide. By continuously evolving and setting new industry standards, we are shaping the future of rail infrastructure – delivering safe, reliable, and high-performance rail networks for generations to come.

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