Maintenance documentation review for West Midlands Railway’s Class 196

West Midlands Railway, a major operator in the UK’s rail network, engaged our team at Encompass to conduct a comprehensive review of their Maintenance Design Justification File (MDJF).

This document plays a key role in ensuring proper fleet maintenance by outlining tasks and schedules essential to the safe and efficient operation of their trains. Our job was to validate this documentation, ensuring that the maintenance schedules matched the actual operational requirements.

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Background

West Midlands Railway had recently introduced a new fleet, the Class 196 trains, and with any new addition to a fleet, it’s critical that the maintenance documentation is accurate and aligned. The MDJF is central to this, as it outlines every maintenance task required over the lifecycle of the vehicles. For this fleet, the MDJF needed to be cross-checked against two other key documents: the Vehicle Maintenance Schedule (VMS), sometimes referred to as the Starchart, and the Vehicle Maintenance Instructions (VMIs).

The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) was responsible for providing these documents, but West Midlands Railway needed independent validation to ensure everything was as it should be. Our job was to review these documents and identify any discrepancies, making sure that maintenance schedules and tasks were properly aligned to avoid costly operational or safety issues down the line.

The brief

Encompass was tasked with validating the MDJF by reviewing its content against the VMS and VMI’s. The goal was to ensure that the maintenance tasks and periodicity (how often they needed to be performed) matched across all three documents. Any differences needed to be flagged and explained by the OEM, so that West Midlands Railway could make informed decisions about their maintenance schedules. Given the size of the task, the review was split into three categories – low, medium, and high priority – based on the complexity and impact of the tasks.

Our goal was to complete the maintenance documentation review and provide West Midlands Railway with a comprehensive validation of their documentation, which would then allow them to move forward with confidence in their maintenance processes.

The solution

Our approach was to break down the large volume of tasks into manageable chunks. We began by comparing the MDJF and VMS whilst referring to the various VMI’s concerned, ensuring that the maintenance activities were consistent and made sense in terms of timing and frequency.

Where we found discrepancies between the documents, we flagged them for further investigation. The OEM was required to provide justifications for any differences – whether it was a change in periodicity or a variation in the VMI content. This approach allowed us to focus on the most critical tasks first, ensuring that high-priority items were addressed as soon as possible.

Partway through the project, we encountered delays in receiving the necessary explanations and clarifications from the manufacturer, which temporarily slowed our progress. Once we completed our part in the project, we then handed the work to West Midlands Railway to complete.

The result

The work we did set a solid foundation for West Midlands Railway to continue their validation efforts. Our categorisation of tasks and identification of discrepancies will hopefully help West Midlands Railway and the OEM to finalise the documentation and bring the Class 196 fleet fully in line with required maintenance standards.

If you are facing similar challenges with your fleet’s maintenance documentation or need an expert team to help you validate and streamline your processes, we’re here to help. Get in touch and let’s ensure your fleet runs smoothly and safely.

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