Reducing vehicle downtime with Remote Software Updates

Making updates not only faster, but also much easier

Software updates for on-train IT are typically time consuming, requiring the train to come to the depot and remain blocked there during download and installation. They also consume a considerable amount of work-time for service technicians, who have to copy the files onto each train and wait for completion. When you have a whole fleet of trains to operate, this adds up to a lot of inefficiency.

That’s why our Railigent X suite offers the capability to perform Remote Software Updates via Fleet Control – making software updates not only faster, but also much easier.

How does it work exactly? Here’s an example based on successful implementations by our customers:

Notification of update

Typically, the process starts at the fleet control center. The operator and maintainer are notified about the availability of a new software release for one or more trains. As a first step, they decide which vehicles should receive the updates and when.

Deployment of update

As a maintainer, it’s easy to deploy the update using our tool chain. The communication is compatible with any modern IP-based wireless network and uses robust VPN technology to ensure state-of-the-art security. The main benefit: the upload happens in the background, while the train is running or parked, without any disruption to scheduled operation. All that’s left to do now is planning and activating the update.

Planning the update

Meanwhile, the operator and maintainer plan when to update the trains, e.g. the next time a train is due for maintenance. When the train arrives in the depot, the service technicians can get straight to work with the software update activation, without having to wait for the software to download and getting distributed to every device in the train.

Activating the update

When the train arrives in the depot and is set to maintenance mode, an authorized service technician triggers the activation process within the train. In most cases, this is all that needs to be done in the depot. In the future, it will be also possible to trigger the update activation remotely, for which the train simply needs to be in safe mode, e.g. in a stabling area. This requires the supplementary function “Remote Update Activation”.