UK: A programme to fit engine remote condition monitoring to Northern’s Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple-unit fleet has been completed. Leasing company Porterbrook says its data showed that moving just one task to condition-based maintenance can save up to 1 500 labour-hours per year.
The monitoring equipment was supplied by Instrumentel and installed by Derby Engineering Unit at Neville Hill depot. Engineers now have remote access to reliable data in real-time, enabling intervention before failures happen rather than relying on routine manual inspections.
The Northern units have been equipped as part of a wider programme covering Porterbrooks’s Turbostar DMUs which has already seen similar upgrades undertaken on fleets at CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway and Chiltern Railways.
‘Our industry is changing, and we are waking up to the real-world benefits a shift towards digital can afford us’, said Porterbrook’s Head of Digital Engineering Services Chris Beales.
