Railroads often face the following challenges in effective deployment and utilization of resources for MOW: ? Information is manually recorded in the field using pen and paper ? Absence of real-time connectivity to the legacy applications ? Lack of reference manuals/ guidelines at fingertips ? Lack of control (real-time reporting) of field expenses on remote projects Freight railroads are one of the most capital intensive industries, where a major share of revenue is spent on capital expenditure and maintenance expenses related to infrastructure and equipment acquisition. ? Within North America, nearly 100% of freight rail tracks are owned, built and maintained by the railroads, not by the government ? 40 cents out of every revenue dollar is invested right back into the rail network. In North America alone, from 1980 to 2010, freight railroads reinvested approximately $480 billion of their own funds on locomotives, freight cars, tracks, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure. ? Germany’s annual investments in rail infrastructure have increased from less than $5 billion in 2008 to $5.6 billion in 2011 - substantially more than the United States on a per capita level All activities related to the repair and maintenance of fixed linear assets of the railway, including track and roadway, buildings, bridges, signals, crossing gates, communication and power facilities, terminals and fuel stations are known as “Maintenance of Way” (MOW). Globally, the installed base of rail track has now reached approximately 1.6 million kilometers i.e., 40 times the circumference of the Earth. HCL’s Mobility solution for railroads helps the rail industry achieve better return on investments on their maintenance expenditures through real-time visibility, increased productivity and better resource utilization. HCL’s solution would allow the user to access a particular project by entering the project ID or project number into the screen. The system would present relevant information on the project like: ? Mile Post (MP) markers for the project’s location identification ? Project details (work description of the project) ? Relevant project dates (start, end) ? Materials required with specific resource delivery dates on-site ? The crew to work on the project (B&B gangs, equipment) HCL’s Mobility Solution for Railroads Industry Scenario