Discovering a strategic area that deals with rolling stock engineering, cyclical maintenance and operating safety.
Overseeing maintenance activities and all the problems related to rolling stock engineering is one of the key tasks in the management of any railway undertaking. It is a vast and complex area involving competences which may seem worlds apart but which are all equally important for optimizing production of the transport services provided. Trenitalia, a company of the Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, like all the big European railway undertakings, has created a special department within its organization which today goes by the name of the “Technical Department” and is specifically in charge of all these issues. It is run by Marco Caposciutti, Engineer, whom we met to find out more details on how it operates, what it does and how it is organized.
Mr. Caposciutti, what tasks are carried out by the Trenitalia Technical Department you run?
Basically the Technical Department has two types of task: the first is to be a transversal department for Trenitalia in relation to the three divisions which run the various services (the National and International Passengers Division, the Regional Passengers Division and the Cargo Division), for all those engineering problems concerning rolling stock. In other words, the technical specifications for characterizing rolling stock, all those aspects linked to maintenance schedules, rolling stock maintenance cycles, IT systems (again referring to rolling stock) as well as aspects concerning operating safety and the project management of rolling stock purchase or revamping orders. In brief, engineering, project management and all the issues linked to operating safety. This is the first part of our work: the second part concerns the cyclical maintenance of vehicles. The Technical Department has nine workshops which carry out cyclical maintenance. Around 2,700 people work in these workshops, whereas approximately 300 people are involved in the engineering and project management aspects.
Franco Tanel
Full article is available only for registered users.
Click the link below to download pdf version of Railway Engineering
