In order not to disrupt railway operations, maintenance work in tunnels can only be carried out in short time windows which are planned well in advance. Strict safety regulations require every employee to maintain site records and document important processes. This paper documentation is very time-consuming and also impacts on the already tight schedule.

For now. - Since the end of 2018, SBB, Rhomberg Bahntechnik, Indoo.rs and Control Center Apps have been working on the implementation of a smartphone-based personnel location system.

This will make it possible to track the position of employees in the tunnel and to control and document important activities such as entering the tunnel or the team´s handover. The required safety protocols are also generated automatically.

This ambitious project makes use of the latest technologies available on the market, especially in the areas of location, cloud technology and mobile services.

To mark the end of a first pilot phase, in which the positioning system and a series of basic functionalities were successfully tested in parts of the tunnel construction, the final event of the pilot project was held on 5 June, at which the individual functions and technical background were presented to the numerous guests at various market stands.

Despite this success, the team still has a lot of work to do before the system can be rolled out with all its functionalities at the beginning of 2020 and, in a further step, made available for the Ceneri Base Tunnel.