The building of a network is only half the work. The other half — which may be the harder — is keeping it sound for decades, indeed for the hundred years to come. A small defect at one point, if it is not seen in time, can bring hundreds of trains to a halt. Maintenance, then, is not a side matter, but the beating heart of sustainable operation.
From “repair after failure” to “the prediction of failure”
In the past, maintenance was either reactive — one waited until a failure declared itself and then repaired it — or else calendar-bound: periodic inspections, whether they were needed or not. Both are costly. And sometimes one small failure imposes further failures upon the system.
But today technology has brought about a revolution: the prediction of failure before it occurs, which is called predictive maintenance. The Global Rail Network will be built upon this very principle.
The nervous system of the network: the sensors
The first step is to cover the whole network with thousands of intelligent sensors. These sensors watch the condition of everything continually and at every moment: the soundness of the rail, the condition of the wheels and the body of the train, the signalling systems, the power lines, the structural soundness of bridges and tunnels and stations, and even the border, customs and security controls. No part is left out. Sensors have even been made which draw their own energy from the vibration of the train.
The brain of the network: artificial intelligence
Raw data by itself is of no use. Artificial intelligence analyses the flood of data from the sensors and finds patterns which the human eye does not see. It can predict that a component will run into trouble in so many days or so many weeks.
In this way that same component is replaced exactly before it fails: not so early as to waste capital, nor so late as to cause an accident. The most advanced systems even make use of reinforcement learning, so as to learn the best schedule for themselves.
The digital mirror: the virtual twin of the network
One of the most remarkable technologies is the digital twin: a complete virtual copy of the whole network within a computer, kept in agreement moment by moment with the real one.
Engineers can conduct trials upon this twin — see what would happen if a heavier load passed over, or if an earthquake occurred — without touching the real network at all. This digital mirror raises prediction to a level that was formerly impossible.
Practical solutions for uninterrupted maintenance
This intelligence needs physical solutions as well. First, the principle of the double track and the backup route: one line can be closed for repair while the other goes on working. Second, a service road alongside the line, for the swift access of teams to any point of the network. Third, service centres and rapid-response teams at regular intervals. Fourth, robots and drones for the inspection of difficult or dangerous places, such as the interiors of long tunnels and the undersides of high bridges.
The aim is that no room for doubt or question should remain as to the soundness of the whole body, along all its routes. God willing.
Resilience against the future and against the change of climate
One of the greatest challenges of the future is the change of climate: greater heat, more severe floods, harder conditions. Predictive systems and the digital twin allow the network to adapt itself to these changes and to be ready before a crisis. This forward-looking view guarantees that the network remains efficient not for ten years, but for the hundred years to come.
Planned renewal: neither too late, nor unceasing
There is a hidden danger in the world of technology: the unceasing and hurried alteration of systems. When every few years a new system is installed and the previous one set aside, the costs become staggering and people grow weary of adapting themselves perpetually to it. The network must avoid this trap.
The right way is an intelligent balance. The initial design must look so far ahead that the system remains efficient for many years and preserves its earning power and its usefulness for everyone. Continual maintenance stretches out this useful life. And major renewals are carried out not hurriedly and yearly, but in periods determined beforehand and with care, after the present system has yielded the greatest reasonable return; and at each renewal, the view will again be towards a more distant future.
In this way the network neither falls so far behind as to grow obsolete, nor moves so hurriedly forward as to create cost and weariness.
Operation: the daily guidance of a global body
Alongside maintenance stands operation — the daily guidance of the network. Intelligent control centres, like a commanding brain, coordinate the movement of all the trains: scheduling, routing, the management of congestion, and the response to any unforeseen event. With the help of automation and artificial intelligence, this coordination becomes so exact that delays are reduced to their least possible extent.
And all this work is done with the cooperation of all the countries along the route and by people trained from every climate — something which of itself carries the latest methods of management and of continual maintenance and the manner of planning to every place, and makes all the peoples of the world familiar with these standards.
A final assurance
The technology of today not only permits the building of such a network; it also places in our hands the means of keeping it sound. With predictive maintenance, intelligent sensors, artificial intelligence, the digital twin and trained personnel, this network can work for decades without interruption and in safety, without any capital being wasted or any life put in danger.
This is the very promise we made to the passenger: a system that can be trusted, benefited from, participated in, and learned from.
With this chapter we come to the end of the technical part. We now know how this network is designed, built, made safe and maintained. But one group of great questions still remains unanswered: how much does all this cost? Where does the money come from? And who administers this global body, so that it does not become an instrument of domination for a few?
Here we pass from the world of engineering into the world of economics and governance and law — the subject of the next part.
Note: the sources and references for the chapters of this part — including the technical data on train technologies, the engineering of the water crossings, international railway standards, station design, and research into intelligent maintenance with artificial intelligence — are gathered in the appendix of sources at the end of the book.