The Potential for Digital Twin Applications in Railway Infrastructure Management

The potential of digital twin technology has become apparent in recent literature, occurring evermore frequently in literature as the world moves on to the fourth industrial revolution. The use of digital twins in industries such as manufacturing, aerospace and aviation, and healthcare, have illustrated its value in lifecycle data management, control, monitoring, and more. This paper presents a review of digital twin applications in railway infrastructure. Considering digital twin adoption for public infrastructure, the rail industry is still at an early stage with few recorded implementations. However, digital twins present the possibility of addressing the emerging needs of infrastructure data management in the rail sector. Identified needs include the integration of data from various sources, validation of management paradigms, and the processing of large volumes of data.