Train operator Southern, rolling stock leasing company HSBC Rail, and software solutions company Tessella are celebrating after TAPAS (the ‘Train Automatic Performance Analysis System’) won a prestigious Railway Industry Innovation Award in the category of Engineering and Information Technology. TAPAS has transformed traditional train maintenance by introducing a remote condition-based maintenance system, which can be applied to existing mid-life fleets as well as to new rolling stock.

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Nick Clarke, transport lead at Tessella said: “To enable the effective maintenance of a fleet of trains, whilst continuously improving their reliability, some key goals need to be achieved. Performance degradation needs to be identified before components fail; any faults that have occurred need to be diagnosed accurately; the behaviour of system components needs to be understood over their full service lifecycle; and the possible benefits of any attempted improvements need to be assessed reliably.”

Southern’s engineering director Gerry McFadden said: “TAPAS is a ground-breaking system which identifies potential failures on-board trains before they happen, replacing some aspects of routine maintenance and preventing repeat failures. The system has increased train reliability significantly with rolling stock spending less time in the maintenance sheds, which is ultimately beneficial for the end user – our passengers.”

HSBC Rail’s Andrew Burchell said: “In the rail industry condition monitoring has been limited to on-train analysis of data, with faults only reported when pre-defined conditions have occurred. HSBC Rail and Southern, recognizing the limitations of this approach, have worked with Tessella to develop the ‘Train Automatic Performance Analysis System’ which approaches the problem by analyzing all of the data captured in the ‘black box’ data recorder off the train, enabling behaviour patterns to be constantly re-evaluated and taking train condition monitoring to a new level.”

Nick Clarke of Tessella concluded: “The changes in the structure of the transport industry have driven companies to modernize and seek new solutions to key challenges such as asset management, condition monitoring, maintenance planning and revenue management. One of Tessella’s defining qualities is the ability to take skills developed in one industry sector and use them to innovate in a completely different sector, which is otherwise unaware of the potential benefits out there. Uniting innovation with previous experience, Tessella is perfectly placed to help organizations exploit new technology and so take their performance, and the services they provide, to another level.”

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Notes to editors:

• For press enquiries or to arrange an interview with Tessella please contact Alison Smith, Marketing Manager on +44 (0) 1235 546609 or alison.smith@tessella.com

• For press enquiries or to arrange an interview with Southern please contact Marsid Greenidge on 020 8929 8672 or marsid.greenidge@southernrailway.com

• For press enquiries with HSBC Rail please contact Wendy Filer on 020 7380 5057 or wendyfiler@hsbc.com

• Founded in 1980, Tessella specializes in the application of innovative solutions to scientific, technical and engineering problems, and its offices within the UK, US and the Netherlands have built long-term relationships with organizations at the leading edge of the scientific and engineering world. Tessella is vendor independent and recommends ‘best of breed’ solutions, whether this involves custom software development or off-the-shelf solutions

• HSBC Rail (UK) Ltd owns approximately one third of the UK’s rolling stock and provides a comprehensive range of rolling stock and management services for rail passenger and freight markets. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank plc, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, headquartered in the UK and a member of the HSBC Group. Serving over 125 million customers worldwide, the HSBC Group has some 10,000 offices in 82 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,861 billion at 31 December 2006, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as ‘the world’s local bank’

• Southern provides rail services in South London and between central London and the South Coast, through East and West Sussex and Surrey, and parts of Kent and Hampshire. Last year Southern carried 120 million passengers. Their 3,500 staff manage 160 stations and operate and maintain a fleet of 300 new and refurbished trains, seven days a week and up to 24 hours a day

• The Railway Forum/Modern Railways Innovation Awards 2007 were held on 27th June 2007 – their 10th year – and celebrated a decade of railway innovation. The Innovation Awards are a unique and important event in the railway industry calendar as the awards recognize and publicize the huge amount of innovation taking place in Britain’s railways

Contact details:

Tessella Support Services plc (Headquarters)
3 Vineyard Chambers
Abingdon
Oxfordshire
OX14 3PX
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1235 555511, Fax: +44 (0) 1235 553301

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