LONDON UNDERGROUND expects savings of £10m a year on its maintenance budget, thanks to the development and implementation of software from ICL and Workplace Systems. Sabre, ’Site Access Booking for Railway Engineering’, offers engineers the facility to co-ordinate work to minimise clashing operations, and improve utilisation of resources.
Planning work in the tunnels, escalators and platforms of underground station layouts is complex because of severe restrictions to access - if work is proceeding in one area, it may prevent equipment and workers getting to other sites. Sabre carries detailed information on all station layouts, and these are cross-referenced with worksite bookings to automatically flag-up clashes. Alternative schedules are generated to avoid conflicts.
Sabre was delivered in four stages, which addressed the needs of the eight line planning managers, LU’s Critical Resource Agency, engineering train and plant movements, and maintenance information for management analysis and monitoring.
The impact has been to make a vast reduction in the quantity of paperwork, while focusing attention on the importance of planning and booking-in time for work to be carried out.
The system includes a database which stores details of the booked work, with a facility to input details of work actually carried out. This can be used to assess the performance of contractors, to encourage them to turn up when they have work booked, avoiding rebooking and consequent disruption from work over-running.
ICL, Winnersh, Great Britain
Reader Enquiry Number 141
