Defence Network Modernisation: Systems Engineering Safety Assurance
Shivaan Asset Management supports a consortium in modernising a Defence Contractor's communications network.
Rail
Reliability and Safety Assurance for a Major Urban Rail Programme
Shivaan Asset Management delivered whole-of-system reliability and safety assurance (RAMS) for a major urban rail tunnel and stations programme, across the preliminary and detailed design stages.
- Core reliability and safety assurance deliverables
- 7
- FMECA, RBD, FTA for major hazards, FTA for SIL verification, RAM Plan, RAM Report and the preliminary design safety case
- Railway RAMS lifecycle applied across the design stages
- EN 50126
- Supported by IEC and EN 61508, AS IEC 60812, AS IEC 61025 and AS IEC 61078
- Service-affecting system groups in scope
- 13
- From tunnel ventilation and signalling to platform screen doors, fire and life safety, and station services
In brief
- A major urban rail programme, built around twin running tunnels and underground stations, had to prove reliability, availability and safety across every service-affecting system, inside a formal independent-assurance regime.
- Shivaan Asset Management delivered the whole-of-system reliability and safety assurance evidence across the preliminary and detailed design stages.
- The work spanned FMECA, Reliability Block Diagrams, Fault Tree Analysis for major hazards, Fault Tree Analysis for SIL verification, and a RAM Plan and RAM Report.
- The deliverables fed a formal assurance chain with an Independent Safety Assessor and a Project Independent Certifier under the EN 50126 RAMS lifecycle.
- The engagement was completed at the detailed design stage, with all of the reliability and safety assurance deliverables delivered.
The Challenge
A major urban rail programme, built around twin running tunnels and underground stations, had to demonstrate that every service-affecting system would meet its reliability and availability targets and be safe to operate, to the satisfaction of independent assessors and the rail safety regulator.
That meant producing consistent, defensible reliability and safety evidence across many interconnected systems and across successive design stages, all feeding a single formal assurance chain.
The systems in scope
- Tunnel ventilation control system and fan plant
- Signalling and train control
- Traction power supply and electrical power distribution
- Platform screen doors
- Tunnel drainage monitoring and control
- Operational management and control, including supervisory control
- Building and station management, and station climate control
- Fire and life safety
- Communications and telecommunications systems
- Security and access control
- Vertical transport, including lifts and escalators
- Station and tunnel mechanical and electrical services
- Rail track and civil systems
Our Approach
Shivaan Asset Management delivered the reliability and safety assurance deliverables across the preliminary and detailed design stages, aligned to the EN 50126 railway RAMS lifecycle and supporting international standards.
- MIL-STD-1629A and AS IEC 60812FMECA
- Working through how each system could fail, what each failure would do, and how serious it would be. Carried out at system level, with subsystem analyses where the design called for them, at preliminary and again at detailed design.
- AS IEC 61078Reliability Block Diagrams
- Modelling how the parts of a system depend on one another, at system level across the service-affecting systems, to demonstrate that each one would meet the availability it was required to hit.
- AS IEC 61025Fault Tree Analysis for major hazards
- Working backwards from the events that must not happen to the combinations of faults that could cause them, including the tunnel ventilation control system in emergency and congestion operating modes.
- IEC and EN 61508Fault Tree Analysis for SIL verification
- Calculating probability of failure on demand and dangerous failure frequency, then checking both against the Safety Integrity Level allocated to the safety function.
- EN 50126RAM Plan and RAM Report
- The plan setting out how reliability, availability and maintainability would be managed across the programme, and the whole-of-system report that allocated and predicted availability against it.
- Safety casePreliminary Design Safety Case
- The argued, evidenced case that the design is safe to build and operate, with the hazard analysis, functional failure analysis, interface hazard analysis and integrity assessment that support it.
These deliverables fed a formal rail systems-assurance regime with independent oversight, including an Independent Safety Assessor and a Project Independent Certifier, working to the EN 50126 lifecycle with a structured safety argument, hazard log and staged safety cases.
What We Delivered
The engagement ran across the preliminary and detailed design stages and was completed at the detailed design stage. Every one of the reliability and safety assurance deliverables was delivered into the programme assurance chain.
- Every reliability and safety assurance deliverable was completed and handed over, across the preliminary and detailed design stages.
- Availability compliance was demonstrated for the service-affecting systems, using system-level Reliability Block Diagrams.
- Major-hazard and SIL verification analyses were delivered to support the safety case and the integrity targets set for each safety function.
- The RAM Plan, the whole-of-system RAM Report and the preliminary design safety case artefacts all went into the formal assurance chain.
The Value Delivered
- One consistent standard of reliability and safety evidence across many interconnected systems and successive design stages.
- Availability and safety targets demonstrated in a form independent assessors and the rail safety regulator could accept.
- Standards-heavy assurance work carried through a formal independent-assurance regime, under an Independent Safety Assessor and a Project Independent Certifier.
- One evidence chain rather than a stack of separate reports: each analysis feeds the next, and all of them feed the staged safety case.
How FMECA and RCM combine into an integrated maintenance strategy
Frequently asked questions
What reliability and safety deliverables did Shivaan Asset Management provide?
FMECA at preliminary and detailed design, Reliability Block Diagrams for availability compliance, Fault Tree Analysis for major hazards, Fault Tree Analysis for SIL verification, and a RAM Plan and RAM Report, feeding the preliminary design safety case.
Which systems were covered?
The service-affecting systems across the programme, including tunnel ventilation control, signalling and train control, traction power, platform screen doors, tunnel drainage, operational control, fire and life safety, communications, security and access, vertical transport, and station and tunnel services.
How was the work assured?
It fed a formal rail systems-assurance regime with independent oversight, including an Independent Safety Assessor and a Project Independent Certifier, working to the EN 50126 RAMS lifecycle with a structured safety argument, hazard log and staged safety cases.
How far did the engagement run?
It ran across the preliminary and detailed design stages and was completed at the detailed design stage, with all of the reliability and safety assurance deliverables delivered into the programme assurance chain.
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