Siemens Mobility is to invest around €150 million to expand its service depot in Dortmund-Eving in Germany.

Construction of the new building will begin this year and is due to be completed by 2026. It will extend the facility by 87,550m², increasing the Dortmund depot’s total area of 70,000m² to 157,550m².

The extension will comprise an additional 12,300m² service hall with storage facility, offices and workshops, which will accommodate the maintenance of trains up to four hundred metres long.

The Siemens Mobility depot, which has been running since 2018, primarily maintains trains from the RRX fleet which operates throughout the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region. The depot’s added capacity will enable it to service and maintain more trains from other fleets.

When the new facility is ready, the service centre will employ up to 250 people.

The Dortmund depot will be able to control maintenance processes fully digitally, which will optimise operations and maintenance and help to ensure that systems are 100% system available.

Work orders and relevant maintenance and repair information will be communicated to depot workers on their tablets, and trains will continually transmit status data sourced from sensors to the Railigent X digital platform, which will automatically process it.

Siemens offers an example of a high-speed train generating up to 30 GB of data per month, which is then analysed by the Railigent X application suite using AI-based algorithms.

The analysis will predict faults as accurately as possible and will recommend preventative maintenance measures.

The new Rail Service Centre will have state-of-the-art inspection and maintenance equipment, including an outdoor cleaning facility and an underfloor lathe and wheelset diagnostic system.

It will also include a high-performance 3D printer, which will be able to produce plastic replacement parts quickly and directly on site.

The depot has an advanced Automated Vehicle Inspection system (AVI), which is unique in Germany. When a train or other vehicle enters, the AVI uses laser technology to automatically check the wheels, axles and tread profiles and feeds the data into Railigent X.

Siemens believes that in the future, it will be able to move from human vehicle inspections to fully automated visual inspections.

It predicts that it will be able to integrate these inspections into a train’s operations, which will ensure that it is available for the maximum amount of time and will improve the productivity of maintenance.

The company is using up-to-date software including computer vision, artificial intelligence and digital twins, which will help to make the inspection of trains and vehicles as efficient as possible.

Last month, Siemens announced a £100m investment in a new facility in Wiltshire.

“Our customers need the best service to put more trains on the rail and ensure their maximum availability. Our digital service depot in Dortmund is one of the most modern rail service centers in Europe. To maximize efficiency, innovative Siemens technologies such as AI-based maintenance with Railigent X, 3D printing, and highly automated services are used at the facility. By investing in additional depot capacity, we are responding to the growing demand for services. The depot expansion will not only enable us to serve more vehicle and train types and customers in the future but also create highly qualified jobs in the region and further strengthen our service network in Europe.”

Michael Peter, CEO Siemens Mobility