FIRM15 focuses on Innovative Maintenance of Transport Infrastructure
Innovative Maintenance of Transport Infrastructure was theme of FIRM15 on 22nd-23rd April 2015
Last week (22nd-23rd April 2015), some 110 transport infrastructure research experts from Europe and beyond met for the 2015 FEHRL Infrastructure Research Meeting (FIRM15) at the Diamant Centre in Brussels, Belgium to discuss the overall theme of “Innovative maintenance of transport infrastructure: Faster, cheaper, more reliable, safer, greener”, Throughout the two-day conference, several solutions for R&D&I were presented that are in the pipeline. The debates in particular covered the challenges facing Europe, namely that little attention is given to the maintenance of transport infrastructure. While different funding mechanisms exist, these do not cover the total required costs and it is difficult to get money for maintenance. More financial support is needed (for example, through programmes such as Horizon 2020, CEDR programmes and Shift2Rail), as is expertise for construction and more knowledge about the remaining capacity of the existing infrastructure. The discussions held concluded that the scope of maintenance is broader than it used to be and the frequency higher due to the short-term timespan of infrastructure upgrades. A new maintenance framework should be found as the commercialisation and implementation of innovative solutions is too long and the actual procurement schemes are not adequate to implement innovative solutions. A change in business model is also required, which could lead to incentives (such as used in the USA) or a more normative approach (such as the European Railway Agency). And for procurement, more responsibilities and a performance-based approach (where contractors build and maintain) are also needed, which would be similar to an insurance contract.
The debates also highlighted the issue of a possible backlog in the need for maintenance at the end of the contract and raised the question about whether the company who carried out the contract would even still exist then. According to the high-level participants, maintenance should be seen more as an investment to drive benefits for private partners and society/community. Transport infrastructure currently drives European competitiveness but there are no benefits retrofitted to infrastructure. For instance, a new railway or a new exit on a highway will benefit to the territory around it, but there is no reward to the infrastructure. How can part of this benefit be distributed to infrastructure? Engineers should play a role in educating both politicians and citizens and this could all form a future topic of research as well as a political mandate.
Cross-modal policy content during the first plenary session
Session 2 - What are the engineering needs, challenges and solutions for Innovative maintenance of Transport Infrastructure?
The first technical session, moderated successively by FEHRL Executive Director, Lutz Pinkofsky of BASt and Manfred Haider of AIT, who is also Chair of FEHRL Research Coordinators, featured an introduction by Oliver Ripke of BASt and CEDR on the needs and challenges of the Transport Infrastructure owners in terms of innovative engineering solutions. The following proposed solutions then followed from R&D&I, which focused on the progress made, the barriers to innovation and implementation of innovation, as well as the expected outcome and impact of the solutions:
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Developing/harmonising measurement methods for skid resistance, noise emission and rolling resistance of road pavements as a preparation for standardization, ROSANNE, Manfred Haider, AIT
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Innovation in the asphalt industry, EAPA, Egbert Beuving, EAPA
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Design, performance, design life and sustainability assessment of warm mix asphalt mixes with high recycling rates for wearing courses, Davide Lo Presti, University of Nottingham/NTEC
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A tool to assess the impact of construction process quality on the performance of pavements, CONSISTEND, Jos Wessels, TNO
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The Development of Self-Powered, Intelligent Road Studs, INROADS, Martin Lamb, TRL
Session 3 - Round table discussion: "Investing in innovative transport infrastructure, a critical matter at stake for competitiveness and social cohesion".
Moderated by FEHRL Executive Director, Bob Collis of TRL, the discussion started with an introduction by Peter Haardt, head of the Concrete Bridges department of BASt entitled “Innovative maintenance for ageing bridges and tunnels” and featured Gerard Waldron, ARRB and FEHRL Vice-President, Wim Van de Camp, MEP Transport and Tourism Committee, Group of the European People's Party, Maria-Cristina Marolda, Policy Officer, DG MOVE of the European Commission, Pat Maher, NRA, Executive Board member, TD innovation of CEDR, Monika Heiming, EIM Executive Director, Christophe Nicodème, ERF Director General, Wolfgang Steinicke, EURNEX Secretary General and Kjersti Kvalheim-Dunham, NPRA and FEHRL Executive Director.
Session 4 - What are the needs, challenges and solutions for Innovative operations maintenance of Transport Infrastructure?
FEHRL Executive Director, Kjersti Kvalheim-Dunham of NPRA and Jos Wessels of TNO, who is also FEHRL Research Area Leader Design and Production moderated in succession this second technical session, which started with an introduction by Pieter de Winne, Flemish Mobility and Public Works Ministry, CEDR Chair of TG Research. The following proposed solutions then followed:
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Fully portable, very accurate and reliable Bridge Weigh-in-Motion System, SiWIM, Aleš nidari, ZAG
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Automated Ravelling Inspection And Maintenance Planning On Porous Asphalt In The Netherlands, Road measurement and monitoring, Willem van Aalst, TNO
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Towards a single system architecture for road defects monitoring and near-miss accidents data collection, SVRAI-MIRANDA, Thierry Serre, IFSTTAR
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Improving the requirements for high-speed inspections, HI-SPEQ, Alex Wright, TRL
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Human factors considerations and research on traffic management measures, METHOD, Luuk Vissers, SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research
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Risk Assessment of ageing infrastructures, RE-GEN, Eugene O'Brien, Roughan O’Donovan
Session 5 - What are the needs, challenges and solutions for Innovative governance, management and financial solutions of Transport Infrastructure?
Monika Heiming, EIM Executive Director, both moderated this third technical session and gave the introduction. The following proposed solutions then followed:
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PPP in financing of infrastructure, ECTRI, Jose Manuel Vassallo, UPM
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Life cycle engineering for roads, the new sustainability certification system for roads, LCE4ROADS as part of the FP7 project ECOLABEL, Carlos Martin Portugues Montoliu, ACCIONA
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The business case of operation and maintenance for bridges, SAFELIFE-X, Mark de Bel, Deltares
Thierry Goger closed the event on both days. Copies of presentations can be found here and photos here.
