Train services can be seriously affected by the failing or malfunction of railway subsystems. Consequences of this range from a minor delay to the derailment of trains. The need to reduce costs in today's competitive environment is increasingly important, therefore the opportunity to cut costs by remote condition monitoring of railway equipment is becoming a matter of urgency. State-of-the-art technology being developed should grasp the concept of maintenance requirements based on feedback from the remote monitoring of critical components; thus eliminating the need for costly time-based maintenance plans. This paper intends to give an overview of the state-of-the-art remote condition monitoring systems currently in use world-wide, as well as the results of research activities in this area being carried out with industrial collaboration at The University of Birmingham. This paper also draws conclusions from questionnaires compiled by the University and completed by rail operators world-wide. The questionnaires addressed issues as to whether there is a world market for remote condition monitoringand individual country's progress in implementing the technology.
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