SBS Transit Rail puts the AI in train maintenance

SBS Transit Rail’s Project 6Sense helps the firm monitor its trains’ health. / Photo credit: SBS Transit

Transport services provider SBS Transit Rail is a finalist of the inaugural Design AI and Tech Awards, which spotlights innovations by startups, enterprises, and corporations in Singapore.

Singapore’s public transport system is renowned worldwide for its reliability, efficiency, and seamless connectivity. As the demands on this network continue to grow, SBS Transit Rail – one of the city-state’s major train operators – developed an AI-powered system to meet its employees and customers’ needs.

This solution, called Project 6Sense, uses advanced analytics and natural language processing. It was designed to ensure that Singapore’s North East Line (NEL) and Downtown Line (DTL) deliver consistently smooth journeys for more than a million commuters every day.

Making sense of 6Sense

To develop Project 6Sense, SBS Transit Rail’s data analytics team worked with its operations crew to identify the challenges that the latter faced when dealing with train faults. The data analytics team also recognized the limitations of traditional methods, which involved manually collecting and processing data from different sources.

They identified the need for a unified platform that could automate data retrieval and processing. Prototypes of the dashboard were created in Microsoft’s Power BI and tested using historical train incidents.

Project 6Sense categorizes trains based on their health status. / Photo credit: SBS Transit

The result was Project 6Sense, which offers a holistic view of the health status of individual trains and categorizes them into one of four groups: healthy trains, trains on watch list, those with a high false alarm rate, and at-risk trains.

This classification gives the operations team stronger awareness of a train’s conditions, facilitates informed decision-making, and improves efficiency and productivity. The system also integrates machine-generated alarms with train maintenance information from various systems, including those from different manufacturers.

A smoother journey ahead

With no off-the-shelf product available to meet SBS Transit Rail’s specific requirements, the company developed the system in-house..

The NEL and DTL’s integration of five railway system components from different manufacturers meant a customized solution was needed, making Project 6Sense tailor-made for SBS Transit Rail’s specific requirements.

Photo credit: Majonit / Shutterstock