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Sectors we serve > Rail and Metro > Our Services > Expert advice > Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety  

Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety

RAMS stands for Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety. We routinely develop RAMS studies to help clients meet performance and business objectives.

Failures and the unavailability of railway systems cost time and money. There are direct costs, such as delays in the service, increased repair and maintenance costs, and penalty payments or fines for poor performance. There are also the hidden costs such as damage to reputation and increased staff workload, and opportunity costs of the knock-on effects to other activities and ventures.

The risk of failures can be reduced through various measures but the costs of these need to be balanced with the costs of failures.

Scope of services

Lloyd’s Register provides tailored solutions to assess the various costs and to balance these to enable you to meet performance and business objectives by having systems that are reliable, available for use and maintainable.

Our reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) services include:

  • Defining the strategy and plans for the management of the RAMS performance of new systems

  • Application and interpretation of international and European standards for RAMS management such as CENELEC EN50126, BS5760, MIL-HDBK-217 and Def Stan 00-40

  • Deriving RAMS requirements and targets for systems

  • Carrying out detailed RAMS studies using techniques such as FME(C)A, FTA and RBD, supported by industry standard tools such as FaultTree+ and AvSim

  • Analysing the reliability and availability of designs and systems, identifying failures, assessing their consequences and developing appropriate control measures

  • Analysing failure data, developing reliability predictions and implementing reliability improvement programmes

  • Balancing the conflicting demands of safety and RAM

  • Developing life cycle cost models to optimise reliability, availability and maintenance costs

  • Managing subcontractors to ensure their RAMS targets are achieved.

For more information about our safety expertise click here

The benefits

Clients benefit from our experience throughout the rail industry.  We are able to effectively integrate RAMS management with safety management, ensuring compliance with CENELEC EN50126, and asset  management, required by PAS55 ‘Specification for the optimisation of infrastructure assets’, for example, to develop and apply best practice. By actively managing RAMS, we will help you enhance your operational performance by optimising existing equipment and systems; assuring the reliability, availability and maintainability of new equipment; and by reducing operational and maintenance costs.

The key RAMS deliverables include:

- Analyses (RAMS)

- Technical support

- General project support during all RAMS phases

- Development of RAMS management systems

- Development of processes for continuous improvement

Example projects

We have completed a wide range of projects including:

  • Reviewing reliability management and other project delivery processes as part of a benchmarking study

  • Supporting the setting up of a reliability assessment and demonstration programme for several light rapid transit systems in Asia

  • Assessment of performance (RAM) of Taiwan High Speed Railway and its systems throughout design and construction of the railway as part of overall technical assessment and certification of the railway

  • Developing the RAM programme, performing RAM modelling (using Reliability Growth Models, FMECA, FTA and RBDs) and reporting against performance targets for the Hitachi Class 395 Rolling Stock

  • Developing a RAM Programme Plan for a high speed infrastructure project

  • Reviewing current design and alternative arrangements for both HV and LV switchgear and providing independent recommendations for future switchgear designs for the London Underground network

  • Undertaking a range of RAM studies for the development of the Korean tilting train
    reviewing signalling system reliability for Queensland Rail, Australia

  • Developing a whole life asset plan, including all electrical and mechanical (E&M) infrastructure and rolling stock, for London Underground Limited

  • Setting RAM strategy and developing initial RAM performance targets for a new high speed train

  • Performing RAM modelling (FMECA, FTA & RBDs) for the London Underground Cooling The Tube Project Mid Tunnel Ventilation System including recommending design improvements based on the RAM results

  • Performing RAM (FMECA & RBDs) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) modelling for the Network Rail Modular Signalling Project.

  • RAMS processes for

- Operators in Scandinavia

- Infrastrucure owners (Jernbaneverket (NO), Banverket (SWE) )

- Rolling stock suppliers(Bombardier, Siemens, Stadler, AnsaldoBreda)

- Engineering companies (Norconsult, Multiconsult, Sweco, Vactura)

For clients in Scandinavia please visit the pages of www.scandpower.com, a member of the Lloyd’s Register Group.

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