Keeping the lights on…
Maintenance used to be reactive. Once aware of a fault, technicians would confront many challenges: get to the location (perhaps through the resulting jams); diagnose the problem (using their own knowledge); obtain any necessary vehicle or part (perhaps by maintaining an expensive inventory); then make a repair (again reliant on their own skills). So how does Duisburg, a small city in western Germany, cope with this responsibility, as a bulb blows at a busy junction? Remarkably well, these days.
The errant light is connected to a Siemens traffic control center in Munich, where the manager, Bakir Bijedic-Hoffmann, sees it instantly on his screen. While a reserve red bulb immediately clicks into operation at the traffic light, Bakir checks his database to see what sort of repair vehicle will be needed and then schedules the required elevated platform truck and spare bulb. Duisburg’s commuters will be spared gridlock or danger.
… and trains on the rails