The AM4INFRA Final Conference was divided into two consecutive sessions with identical agendas in order to optimally facilitate the attendance. The first session was opened by Fabio Pasquali (ANAS Italy) and the introduction the AM4INFRA project concept and relevance was presented by Ramesh Sinhal (Highways England). The Project Coordinator, Jenne van der Velde (Rijkwaterstaat Netherland) and other project partners, Ramesh Sinhal (Highways England), Elisabetta Marcovaldi (ANAS Italy), Neng Mbah (Highways England) presented the results of the project and the planned next steps. During the second session, the welcome speech was given by Maria Cristina Marolda (EC DG MOVE) with the rest of the programme following the same format as the first session.
The project partners presented the AM4INFRA framework that enables transport infrastructure managers to determine what synergetic benefits their mutual cooperation would bring in reference to their respective policy outcomes as well as how they could achieve such cooperation without abandoning their specific organisational contexts. The framework consists of:
- a common language framework that spans the line of sight from policy outcomes on the network level to the condition and functionality of the individual assets.
- a tool box of methods and models for whole life cycle and risk management that enables transparent and fact- based decision making across the line of sight.
- a set of data and information structures and tools, including an Asset Data Dictionary providing common definitions, a common core model for an asset information management system facilitating the exchange and interoperability of data enabling the sharing and comparison of multiple datasets from different sources, and a Business Case providing a concrete example.
Another important feature of the final conference was the presentation of the results of the three AM4INFRA Living Labs. Learning by doing has been a key principle of the AM4INFRA project. For this reason, the project not only delivered a framework approach, tools and guidelines for asset management, but also demonstrated and verified these in practice through three living laboratories. These Living Labs provide a learning environment against the backdrop of practical situations on the TEN-T network.
The three Living Labs are:
- Living Lab A90 Rome
- Living Lab E34 Eindhoven
- Living Lab M4 London
Generally, the application of living labs proved to be an avenue for strengthening the cooperation between infrastructure agencies and building a converging growing path provided inspiration, stimulated mutual learning and paved the way to a common language. In total around 100 participants joined these living labs, representing over 20 infrastructure agencies or affiliate organizations.
The three living labs produced a number of conclusions from both a technical and soft skills perspective. These can be found in the project report titled "Living lab for three real life situations (cross-asset, cross-network, cross-border)" . Click here to download.
One of the major objectives of the project is to maximise the replication potential across the European TEN-T network of the delivered common framework approach on asset management. The project partners presented a proposal on how to achieve this: through the establishment of a CEDR WG on Network Governance.
The outcome of this proposal will be presented in the next newsletter.
Photos from AM4INFRA Final Conference
