4. Life cycle costs

As in all business sectors, the rail industry is under considerable pressure to reduce costs. Obsolescence management is, among other things, a source of costs that is difficult to apprehend in its entirety, especially over such long periods where multiple factors have unpredictable impacts, whatever the long-term costing model used.

Naturally, a rail operator who implements major proactive actions in the early stages of a project runs the risk of seeing its initial costs rise. But on the other hand, it enables them to better control risks by anticipating the impacts and disruptions associated with obsolescence, and thus reduce operating costs over the long term.

A balance needs to be struck between the resources and costs proactively deployed by manufacturers during development, and the costs and resources deployed to resolve obsolescence...