# System for the Acquisition and Analysis of Maintenance Data of Railway Traffic Control Devices
## 3 Operational Strategies in the Maintenance of Railway Traffic Control Devices  
Proper management of railway traffic control devices is essential for their rational use, maintenance, and restoration of operational readiness (the maintenance process). A key element that influences the course of the management process, as well as the goals set and actions taken, is the current maintenance strategy for the devices [12, 13, 14].  
The general structure for the dynamic formulation of diagnostic and decision-making rules for railway traffic control devices is presented in Figure 1.  
The accuracy and effectiveness of decisions in this process depend primarily on the flow of information used during the decision-making (inference) phase. This often involves large data sets (Big Data). However, it is important to remember that simply using a sufficiently large stream of information does not guarantee the usefulness of the decision, even if the inference process itself is error-free. What matters is the alignment of information about the object with its actual properties.  
Knowledge about an exploitation facility is often based on the experience gained from operating an entire class of similar facilities, as well as on data provided by designers, engineers, or manufacturers. However, specific conditions of manufacturing, usage, or maintenance can significantly alter the actual properties of a given facility, not to mention the changes that occur over time (for example, due to changing exploitation conditions). Therefore, to ensure correct decisions, information about an object's properties should refer  
Figure 1: Diagram of the decision-making process for diagnostics of railway traffic control devices.  
to the specific object in question and should be updated based on the actual (observed) operational events.  
The operation of technical facilities usually follows one of several known strategies. The term \"strategy\" refers to defining methods of use and maintenance, and in particular, the relationship between these processes. The main maintenance strategies include [15]  
1. Reliability-based strategy--Maintenance tasks are scheduled based on the reliability indicators of the devices and their components. Reliability studies, which help determine the necessary characteristics and indicator values, are conducted using statistical methods by observing exploitation events.
2. Economic efficiency-based strategy--Maintenance decisions are made by optimizing economic outcomes using information on the reliability of devices, the costs of their use, and the costs of performing maintenance tasks.
3. Service-life-based strategy--The frequency and scope of each maintenance activity are fixed, regardless of the actual technical condition of the device. Each higher-level maintenance includes tasks from the more frequently performed lower-level maintenance.
4. Condition-based strategy--Maintenance decisions, particularly the timing and scope of maintenance tasks, are based on the current assessment of the technical condition of the devices, their components, and elements. This requires continuous monitoring of technical conditions and the preparation of diagnostic information, which forms the basis for actions tailored to the needs and capabilities of the system during exploitation.
5. Authorized strategies--The management of the exploitation process includes planning maintenance work (scope and methods, as well as timing of halts in operation and transitions to maintenance), directing work teams, and controlling the execution of planned tasks at every stage. The scope of management, the types of decisions made, and the degree of human involvement in these processes depend on the organizational structure in place, the level of management, the adopted planning framework, and the available resources and methods of task execution.