Case Studies

MTA Long Island Rail Road
Long Island, New York

Situation
The MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, carrying an average of 274,000 customers each weekday on 730 daily trains. The LIRR system is comprised of more than 700 miles of track on 11 different branches and serves 124 stations. The LIRR was in need of documentation for standardizing their Plant Equipment Maintenance Department (PEMD) procedures for the management of manpower and plant equipment and requested a 20-year needs assessment.

Challenges
Gannett Fleming, Inc. was responsible for assessing 963 pieces of rolling stock support equipment at nine LIRR maintenance facilities and yards.

Solution
Gannett Fleming’s approach involved using the asset management module of Saber™ (SAMM), our computerized maintenance management system. This module, used in conjunction with a tablet PC, allowed the project team to enter data while performing the assessment of the equipment. Both field and office analyses of the subject equipment were performed using the software to maintain centralization of data and allow real-time data sharing among team members. We developed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the LIRR’s PEMD maintenance operations. The SOPs are used as tools to guide the collection and centralization of the data critical to operations and maintenance. These procedures and the functionality built into SAMM set the stage for the critical process of benchmarking, which ultimately leads to improving facility operations and productivity.

One of the outcomes of this project was the development of a ranking formula, which was incorporated into the design of SAMM. The ranking formula calculated the estimated remaining life for each piece of equipment. The benefits of grouping the equipment by estimated remaining useful life as currently maintained include the following:

• Both accounting and operations personnel can readily see what equipment will require attention first.
• The ranking is listed in years, allowing greater flexibility, especially when filtered with other factors such as mission importance.

SAMM is also being used to develop an efficiently programmed plan to reach and maintain a state of good repair through cyclical (flat-lined) replacement/overhaul schedules based on current condition, usage, life expectancy, and cost-benefit analysis. The SAMM database and tablet PCs were turned over to the railroad so that LIRR can use the system as a tool to manage their ongoing operations and capital budget, constantly monitor the facilities operations department, compare future results to this benchmark, and continue to measure future maintenance performance.