ProRail
Discover how HCS Company and ProRail are transforming legacy OT data into actionable insights through innovative cloud-native solutions for railway bridge monitoring.
From locked-down OT data to smart bridge monitoring: how HCS Company and ProRail are merging OT and IT at the edge
ProRail manages and maintains the Dutch rail network and is responsible, amongst other things, for approximately 65+ movable railway bridge sites throughout the Netherlands. ProRail’s Asset Management department monitors the operational availability of these bridges. The technical installations (PLCs, SCADA systems and related OT equipment) are sometimes decades old but remain robust in operation.
SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, and in practice, SCADA systems are found in critical infrastructure such as water treatment plants, electricity grids and large factories, where they serve as the ‘central nervous system’ of the operation.
The main problem: the valuable process data contained within these systems was practically inaccessible. SCADA packages are primarily designed to control installations, not to facilitate the easy export or analysis of data. As a result, ProRail found it difficult to determine exactly when maintenance was required, leading them to intervene either too early (unnecessary costs) or too late (risk of breakdowns).
“They want to use data to identify patterns, correlations and trends. I sometimes refer to it as the democratisation of data locked away in SCADA packages.”
– Benoît Schipper, HCS Company
The Challenge
The project was technically challenging on several fronts simultaneously:
- Integrating legacy OT equipment (some dating back to the 1990s) with modern cloud-native architectures.
- Edge deployment at sites without a fixed network (4G connectivity only) and with hardware having very limited RAM.
- Unlocking proprietary OT systems without suppliers offering standard integrations.
- The ProRail OT systems are used in a 24/7 operation and cannot easily be taken offline. The use of cloud-native solutions and security requirements therefore simplifies management.
- Organisational context: the iterative and flexible approach to this project represents a more innovative way of working, which – if successful – could serve as a proof of concept for several future projects.
HCS Company’s approach
The question behind the question
The project began with a question regarding SCADA. However, from the outset, our discussions with HCS Company centred on a shared ambition: to jointly devise a solution for making OT data accessible for analysis in a scalable, future-proof, cloud-native and secure manner.
The focus was on developing an MVP that is not only suitable for bridges but is also scalable and applicable to multiple locations within ProRail. The basic principle is that every PLC can be accessed in a standardised and secure manner, so that OT data becomes available organisation-wide for analysis and further applications.
Iterative and flexible
ProRail and HCS Company began with an innovative proof of concept: two days a week, quarterly coordination meetings, and adjusting the scope based on what they encountered. Bas Swildens: “I scrutinise the results to ensure the highest quality, and at the moment we are making very encouraging progress in the right direction.”
Technical implementation
Acting as a ‘one-man IT department’, Benoît Schipper set up the entire stack – architecture, implementation and documentation – in collaboration with Bas’s operational technology (OT) expertise. The strategic choices:
- Kubernetes as an abstraction layer above the OS, so that future hardware changes do not require a complete reimplementation.
- Kubesolo: Kubernetes running on an edge device with just 2 GB of RAM (± 180 MB footprint), where 4 GB was previously the minimum requirement.
- Portainer as the management tool for the container environment.
- Custom-developed container images for components not yet available off-the-shelf on the market.
- Grafana as an observability gateway. Grafana itself for data visualisations and its many plugins, which make it easy to access various data sources in addition to visualisations. We also use Loki and Mimir for logs and metrics that we collect from the PLCs, but of course also to monitor our edge and data centre infrastructure.
- We make an active contribution to the open-source community; among other things, Benoît has contributed to the Kubesolo project. This not only strengthens the open-source ecosystem but also optimises the technology for our specific use case.
“I’ve managed to get Kubernetes running on a 2 GB device, using just 180 MB. That’s really cool! The abstraction layer between the OS and Kubernetes reduces the headaches enormously.”
- Benoît Schipper, HCS Company
Results
After around nine months, the system is ready for production and the roll-out begins:
A platform capable of communicating with a wide variety of PLCs and unlocking data that offers significant added value for the business. This data can be extracted from the system and fully customised as required to provide various insights and the like. This platform is not limited to just the bridges used for this Proof of Concept.
- The MVP is fully operational: data from OT bridge systems is extracted, enriched and made available for analysis by domain experts.
- Roll-out to the first bridge locations has begun; the plan is to eventually cover approximately 65 locations.
- In addition, we are in active discussions with other departments within ProRail that extract data via PLCs to test our solution.
- Generic architecture: the solution can be reused by other departments within ProRail (Asset Management has approximately 800 staff; monitoring of train safety, tunnels and other systems may follow).
- Internal knowledge development: ProRail now possesses the in-house expertise to further develop and maintain the solution, thereby reducing dependence on suppliers.
“I know HCS Company for its reliability, speed, responsiveness and expertise. Benoit has a critical mind. He is someone who does not give up too easily, driven by perseverance and forward thinking.”
- Bas Swildens, ProRail
Why HCS Company?
ProRail chose HCS Company on the basis of its proven expertise in containerisation and software virtualisation at remote locations. An earlier meeting, during which HCS Company presented the possibilities of containerisation, laid the foundations for a relationship built on trust. Experience with similar OT/IT projects (including Energinet in Denmark) confirmed the relevance of this approach.
HCS Company’s added value lies in the combination of:
- In-depth knowledge of Kubernetes, observability, automation, containers and edge architectures.
- The ability to clearly document complex technical issues and escalate them to the appropriate parties (including Siemens developers, as well as contributing to open-source projects).
- Critical input on identifying the most optimal solution.
- Flexibility and transparency: communicating honestly about what works and what doesn’t, without rigid project structures.
Looking ahead
The project now serves as an internal showcase within ProRail. Other departments facing similar OT data challenges are taking note. Bas Swildens: “The more, the better. Perhaps we should communicate more internally at ProRail and demonstrate what we’re doing.”
HCS Company and ProRail are jointly exploring further collaboration, both for the roll-out to more bridge locations and for potential applications in other departments. The shared goal: to help organisations break the cycle of supplier dependency by building up their own knowledge and democratising data.