Modernization of Adjustment Application Materiel (BAM) for Dutch Railways

Introduction

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) (Dutch Railways), one of the main carriers in the Netherlands, faced the challenge of replacing and modernizing their outdated Bijsturing Applicatie Materieel (BAM) (Adjustment Application Equipment) application. This project aimed to create a more responsive, extensible, and future-proof system for adequately responding to equipment plan challenges.

About NS

NS is responsible for providing train services within the Netherlands and abroad. Their main activity is to transport people using trains. This includes both domestic and international travel. Within the Netherlands, they manage several divisions, including NS Passenger, which focuses on domestic train services, and NS International, which is responsible for international train services to countries such as France, Germany, and partly Belgium. In addition to passenger transport, they also manage various aspects of train transport, such as platforms, stations, signaling systems, and other infrastructure.

Assignment

NS has a plan for keeping their trains running smoothly. This plan has three parts: the timetable, the equipment plan, and the personnel plan. BAM's focus is on the rolling stock plan.

BAM's modernization was essential to keeping train traffic running smoothly and improving the travel experience of passengers. Suppose there are delays because a tree falls on the track, or a signal fails, or a train is defective and consequently breaks down: this needs to be acted upon. BAM is then one of the applications NS uses to ensure that trains can still be driven as far as possible according to plan. If BAM is not working properly, no driving is possible either because of safety.

The old application had too complex a design and was difficult to maintain or expand. The initial assignment focused on putting the new BAM application live and testing it, followed by its continued development.

Over time, the focus shifted to a complete rebuild of the application to make it future-proof. The first part of the modernized application has been live at NS-International for two weeks.

Approach

The project started with putting together a team of experts. The chosen architecture, based on clean/hexagonal/ports-and-adapters architecture, was designed to be easily extensible and maintainable. The focus was on creating a system that also allowed junior developers to be productive quickly.

In addition, several modern technologies were applied including Java 21 and Red Hat Open Shift.

Methods

Peer reviews and code reviews were used extensively to ensure code quality. Furthermore, the use of Azure DevOps ensured a streamlined development workflow.

The customer added value

The modernization resulted in a faster and more responsive system that can be better extended and adapted to future needs. These improvements promise a more streamlined and reliable train service for NS passengers.

Result

The first phase of the modernized application has successfully gone live at NS-International, with the ambition to make it available to all NS travelers by September.

Collaboration

NS is very pleased with the delivered product and with adesso's performance. NS indicated:

“The cooperation with adesso and specifically with adessi Jan-Paul van Reenen, who was the Lead Developer (Tech Lead) on this project, was very pleasant. He was extremely knowledgeable and proved to be analytically very strong. The stakeholder management also went very well. The commitment and required coordination where needed was 110%. You know that not only what you ask for will be delivered, but it will be delivered even beyond expectations.”

Rick van der Straten
Product Owner Bijsturing Materieel

Conclusion

The modernization of the BAM application for Dutch Railways represents a successful collaboration between adesso and NS, resulting in an advanced, future-proof BAM system that improves the efficiency and reliability of train traffic.

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