Analysis of factors effective in railway vehicle maintenance planning with multi-criteria decision making methods

The maintenance activities of rail system vehicles have an important role in providing uninterrupted and sustainable service of rail systems. Such activities need to be carried out as effectively and efficiently as possible. In this study, in order to make railway vehicle maintenance planning the most efficient way, the parameters affecting the maintenance planning were determined, and the effects of these parameters on various maintenance types were examined with Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. Within the scope of the study, 13 factors that are effective in railway vehicle maintenance planning were determined as criteria, and 6 types of maintenance approaches frequently used in vehicle maintenance were determined as options. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used with a spreadsheet program to calculate the importance weights of the criteria. According to the AHP method, the Personnel Experience criterion was found to be the most important criterion with a weight of 0.131 (13.069%). In the study, the multi-criteria decision-making method PROMETHEE is used to evaluate the options. The option with the highest overall superiority value was found to be Maintenance by Monitoring Method with a weight of 0.1359. It has been concluded that the most important parameter in maintenance planning is the staff experience, and the method with the highest efficiency among the maintenance types is maintenance by monitoring method.