Keywords: asset management, decision support system, availability, optimization, investment, interventions.

ARCADIS has been developed, in close cooperation with ProRail (the Dutch stateowned railway asset manager). It is a decision support model which can be used to investigate the costs and effects on the availability of track created by organisational and technical changes in a rail system. The LAB-model (LAndelijk Beschikbaarheidsmodel) is a decision support system for the availability model, developed for the Dutch rail network. Just as in a laboratory different interventions can be mixed and the resulting effects be analysed in real time so a national coherent recipe of interventions can be developed, or verified, regarding the strategic top objectives. The main questions are "What is the effect on availability for each possible intervention?" and "How do I allocate with a good priority my investment?" The model gives a quick insight into the assessment of the correct priority for investments in the network and the speed in the decrease of nonavailability depending on the funding. The model is based on research of the existing availability over the last five years, handling nine categories of the most frequent causes of non-availability and ranking them in location (a line or object). The level of effectiveness of interventions is based on data, experience or expert judgement. The model also gives insight into the return of investment by comparing costs with the saving of money by decreasing costs for unavailability. An optimum to invest in the right location for each intervention also is shown. Thus a combination of interventions for each category can be determined. The model can be easily adjusted for different types of ranking. The model is also very useful in other markets such as roads, factories or hospitals where similar investments considerations have to be made. ProRail is very satisfied with the model because it gives a transparent comparison for different possible sets of interventions.

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