3 ms·

You have to maintain and replace all infrastructure eventually. Maintenance should be part of the project calculation and how items are maintained should also b

You have to maintain and replace all infrastructure eventually. Maintenance should be part of the project calculation and how items are maintained should also be part of that. Additionally how things are maintained needs to be updated to go with new technologies and methods. I see this with for example the public transport in Zürich, Switzerland. Some of the light rail is very old but they are maintenance revisions done on them and things are continuously improved or replaced. Same goes for the tracks which have to be pulled out of the streets every few years and replaced. How this is done has improved tremendously over the years and materials of the track have also changed. Another example are the electric busses that used to have a gasoline backup generator. These have now all been replaced with batteries as they became small and efficient enough to replace the generator. Letting the bus run until it's dead will end up costing more than keeping it in good working condition.

lbriner 5y ago
Great in theory but if you are managing a system now, you would rather spend money on things you need now, you aren't going to keep it in the bank for some future day when the escalator needs replacing. I suspect that equipment is depreciated in TfL accounts but the people 50 years ago wouldn't know how much this replacement would have cost so who knows.
- sschueller 5y ago
  The trains will run for 100+ years. This is possible because almost all parts can be made in house and those that can't are eventually replaced. I'm fact the Zürich rail company (ZVV) in their purchase deal of the bombadier light rail included all plans for all parts. Bombadier was not happy but the ZVV has to make sure they can service the trains even if the manufacturer goes away. This is also the reason LED lighting it a very delayed roll out in the city because the city can not use a light that is vendor locked which most commercial LED setups are. The old Natrium lighting can be purchased anywhere from. many different vendors. The fitting is standardized.

lbriner 5y ago

Great in theory but if you are managing a system now, you would rather spend money on things you need now, you aren't going to keep it in the bank for some future day when the escalator needs replacing. I suspect that equipment is depreciated in TfL accounts but the people 50 years ago wouldn't know how much this replacement would have cost so who knows.

sschueller 5y ago
The trains will run for 100+ years. This is possible because almost all parts can be made in house and those that can't are eventually replaced. I'm fact the Zürich rail company (ZVV) in their purchase deal of the bombadier light rail included all plans for all parts. Bombadier was not happy but the ZVV has to make sure they can service the trains even if the manufacturer goes away. This is also the reason LED lighting it a very delayed roll out in the city because the city can not use a light that is vendor locked which most commercial LED setups are. The old Natrium lighting can be purchased anywhere from. many different vendors. The fitting is standardized.