  Classic asset management approaches begin by inventorying all infrastructure
assets and then assigning maintenance tasks and resources. Our approach
collects similar data, but by starting with current personnel assignment and
describing their job responsibilities and work processes, staff resistance in a
railroad infrastructure owner-operator environment is minimized. Resulting
"manning model" quantitatively measures signal maintenance burden including
Federally mandated tests, trouble tickets, non-FRA maintenance, overhead and
vacation coverage, location/shift assignment, administrative process, and work
curfew productivity losses. It is capable of delivering immediate results by
rightsizing allocation of workforce across shifts and maintenance base
locations--even before all assets are formally inventoried. Typical data from a
commuter passenger railroad shows that work curfews and shift assignment
constraints have significant impacts on workforce productivity. Just over half
of signal maintenance employee-hours are devoted to Federally mandated tests,
whilst non-FRA and repair maintenance consumes about 25% each. These indicators
provide intelligence driving strategic management actions to improve signal
maintenance cost-effectiveness. This model provides workload-based employee
assignment by craft, location, gang, and shift for maintenance manager use, but
also provides analytical basis for establishing or abolishing positions in the
budgeting process. Comparing its results with current employee payroll provides
a measure of how much staffing stress the maintenance organization is under,
which can help measure whether the current overtime usage is appropriate. Asset
and maintenance task inventories collected in this process can also feed normal
asset management processes to assess replacement cycles, asset failure risk,
and to inform strategic and investment decisions.
