Railroads are an important mode of transportation worldwide. The world’s railway network spans over 1.3 million route-kilometers (807,782.55 miles)*. We’ll look at applications of Lean and Six Sigma in railroads from Britain, Slovakia, and Saudi Arabia and finish with a video of the 15 most dangerous railways in the world.

*Source

 

Principles of Lean Leadership for Railway Infrastructure: Britain

 

In an article titled “Principles of Lean Leadership - A Railway Infrastructure Manager Perspective,” author Mike O’Connor discusses the six Lean leadership principles in use at Britain’s Network Rail. Network Rail owns, operates and develops Britain’s railway infrastructure.

Mike gives examples of the principles use at Network Rail.

These six principles consist of leading by:

  • Personal example
  • Creating vision and direction
  • Instilling an improvement culture
  • Walking-through and discovery
  • Enabling employee learning
  • Adding value for the customer

You can read Mike’s article here.

 

Lean Philosophy, Risk Management, and Railway Passenger Train Delays: Slovakia

 

In a case study titled “Sustainability of Railway Undertaking Services with Lean Philosophy in Risk Management—Case Study” authors Eva Nedeliakova and others discuss a  proposal for applying Lean philosophy to risk management regarding railway passenger train delays.

The authors propose several hypotheses for analysis and conclusions.

Use the following link to automatically download the case study.

 

Using the DMAIC Phases for Train Shunting Services Optimization: Saudi Arabia

 

In a paper titled “Optimization for Sustainable Train Shunting Services Using DMAIC Cycle”  authors Mohammed Alshamlan and others discuss the use of DMAIC Phases to optimize train shunting services.

The paper includes:

  • Railway Services Process Flow
  • Process Details and Owners
  • Processing Times per Process
  • Pareto Analysis of Railway Processes
  • Fishbone Diagram for Long Shunting Process

Use the following link to download a copy of the paper.

 

The World’s 15 Most Dangerous Railways

 

View the 15 most dangerous railways in the world  in a video from Top Fives.

You can watch the video here.

 

 

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