The ChallengeIn the coming decades, the European railway sector is implementing several innovations to make railway systems more sustainable, reliable, interoperable, cost-effective and attractive for their users. Technologies such as fully autonomous, unattended train operation rely on the development and gradual implementation of several state-of-the-art sensing, signaling and safety technologies in several European countries. One of the major challenges is to gain the support of multiple stakeholders for innovations given the technical complexity and scale of their implementation. Smooth and effective deployment of these technologies therefore relies on smart implementation strategies that take into account the (societal) costs and benefits, as well as the timing and locations where these systems are deployed. To meet this challenge, a socio-technical approach needs to be developed that takes into account these challenging goals and requirements.
The PhD project focuses on (1) The development of methods and tools to evaluate the costs and benefits of technological innovations such as Automated Train Operations (ATO) for European railway stakeholders, and (2) The development and evaluation of migration strategies for the transition to more autonomous forms of railway operations. The research is supported by the
European Joint Rail Undertaking of the European Union, which allows an international knowledge exchange with international railway partners.
Job descriptionAs a PhD candidate, you will be responsible for carrying out an independent, full-time, 4-year research project that requires the integration of several research areas at the interface between engineering and management. As part of the research project, you will have the opportunity to evaluate your developed methods and tools in practice, together with several partners in the European railway sector. You will be assigned to the Asset Management & Maintenance Engineering (AMME) group, which is part of the Department of Design, Production and Management (DPM) of the Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET). Together with our (inter)national partners and contacts, our group strives to develop state-of-the-art solutions to fundamental and practical challenges in the field of Asset Management and Maintenance Engineering.