Wabtec Opens First European Transit Performance Optimization Center in Derby, UK

The new center, located in Derby UK, was created to help transit sector customers improve operational performance and reduce service costs and lost productivity through real-time monitoring and analytics.

The TPOC is a major step in Wabtec’s expansion and growth into transit asset analytics and condition monitoring. Across Wabtec’s global optimization centers, technicians monitor roughly 10 million pieces of data per day on the the health status and performance of transit systems globally. This allows potential train/sub system failures to be predicted before they occur, and maintenance scheduled without passenger or train disruption.

“We are thrilled to open this new center, which will provide next generation service solutions for our customers in Europe,” said Garry Mowbray, Wabtec Vice President of Regional Services “The combination of our inherent experience in global asset management, access to monitoring technology, analysis platforms and maintenance capabilities provide a winning combination for our customers.”

Customers are already placing their trust in Wabtec’s UK TPOC. Porterbrook Leasing is the first UK rail business to utilize the TPOC services across their fleet of 4,000 passenger rolling stock assets. The TPOC will help deliver enhancements for three key Porterbrook projects that include Class 170 powerpack “power by the mile”, Class 158/9 & 168 oil analysis, and Class 172 powerpack analytics.

“This is a welcome investment from Wabtec and we look forward to the benefits that the new TPOC in Derby will bring to the industry,” said Ben Ackroyd, Chief Operating Officer at Porterbrook. “Better performance controls and analysis will help Wabtec and asset owners such as Porterbrook jointly provide more dependable whole-life asset management capabilities to passenger and freight operators. It will drive improved and more consistent performance and give us the opportunity to further leverage technology in our mission to deliver a safe, reliable and sustainable railway.”

The TPOC builds upon Wabtec’s well-established expertise in fleet performance monitoring in the freight rail industry. Wabtec has four Global Performance Optimization Centers located in the U.S., Brazil, and Kazakhstan that monitor more than 18,000 assets (freight locomotives, Marine Engines, OHV Systems) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.