Systems assurance approachs for the digital railway
The GB railway now relies on digital assets more than ever before.This means there are great opportunities for efficiency and system enhancement.
However, industry needs to know whether existing systems assurance approaches are fit for future digital systems. If they are not, it must understand the changes needed.
For example, 65% of control, command, and signalling (CCS) trackside subsystem assets will likely be life-expired within the next 5– 10 years. Moving to digital CCS solutions requires changes to systems assurance.
The Asset Integrity Group asked RSSB to look at systems assurance challenges related to digital technology.
CCS systems were the area of focus. Lessons learned from CCS could be applied to other systems.
The research found a range of digital technologies that may have CCS applications. It looked at current assurance approaches against the demands of future systems. It also assessed whether they would be sufficient in the future.
Over 40 recommendations were made. These aimed to strengthen assurance and acceptance processes for the future digital railway.
The research makes clearer the potential use of future digital technologies. Specifically, these are in the context of CCS systems. Key risks and challenges with their assurance were found.
The report lays out a range of actions to address these. This will help the assurance process rise to the challenges of increased reliance on digital systems. Through robust assurance management processes, incidents where software or other digital features is a causal factor could be reduced. This will improve safety. It will also enhance reliability.