Renewal project “End-of-life” (rail) infrastructure
A renewal project for rail infrastructure is started when the “end-of-life” moment of objects is determined by ways of inspections and/or measurements. Basically an object that has reached the end of its life is replaced by a new version with the same functionality. The replacement object may or may not contain several improvements or innovations. On the one hand new technologies may improve the performance of objects during use, but can also come with a higher level of complexity during the run of the entire project.
Furthermore, these projects are funded by tax-payers money. This leads to a continuous prioritisation of scope before projects are formed and a rigorous assessment of scope in order to make sure the scope is correctly budgeted and projects are formed effectively.
Finally, replacing objects of the rail infrastructure may only be executed within very limited time slots in which no (ore extremely limited) traffic is allowed to pass in order to create a safe working zone. These time slots are planned months to years in advance and are quite valuable. In case a project runs into trouble and requires additional time slots, it means that the project may run for months or even years longer than originally estimated. This is always accompanied by an increase in unforeseen expenses.
Success criteria and success factors for this kind of project are as follows:
Success criteria:
Come to a well validated and effectively clustered scope.
Complete a risk assessment and evaluation process with very low residual risks.
Execute the project with as little as possible extra works.
Execute the project without any safety incidents.
Execute the project within the predetermined time slots.
Finish the project without any (disruptive) malfunctions or hazards in any way.
Finish the project within budget.
Success factors:
Plan for inspections, surveys and pre-engineering in order to validate project scope and potential risks.
Evaluate / discuss the validated scope with (internal) stakeholders to further complete the scope and gain support in favor of the scope / project.
Facilitate a thorough (or warm) transfer process of the project scope from the (internal) client (asset management) to the project team, to limit or even completely exclude any misconceptions.
Include the client in the review / evaluation of results of further inspections and engineering in order to make timely adjustments to the scope with the support of the client before the execution of the project scope starts.
Valerio Gambino