Fleet Support Engineer

Req ID:441710 

At Alstom, we understand transport networks and what moves people. From high-speed trains, metros, monorails, and trams, to turnkey systems, services, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility, we offer our diverse customers the broadest portfolio in the industry. Every day, more than 80 000 colleagues lead the way to greener and smarter mobility worldwide, connecting cities as we reduce carbon and replace cars.

The job of “Fleet Support Engineers” also called “Help Desk Operators” consists in providing technical support to both the operator (control room/train operators) and Alstom teams by analyzing the data coming from the onboard maintenance system, track side scanner, and from the Operator. For this they can rely on Alstom’s most advanced tools, specifically TrainTracer™ and HealthHub™ for remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and diagnosis to optimize service performances.

We can summarize this mission by four key roles:

The first role of Fleet Support Engineers is to analyze real time information available from the remote monitoring systems, especially Alstom Health Hub™, providing to the whole transport organization an accurate view of the current condition of the rolling stock for the entire fleet.

• This real time monitoring enables immediate efficient advice to the control room in contact with the drivers (possibly directly to the drivers themselves) in case of system fault occurring during service, combining equipment status with technical knowledge to ensure minimum perturbation of the service.
• Remote monitoring also enables the early detection of necessary maintenance (preventive or corrective) before it becomes visible in service, allowing maximum system availability for minimum maintenance (notion of predictive and CBM: condition-based maintenance). Based on dashboards and rules generating alerts (defined from Alstom return-of-experience worldwide and/or customized) Help Desk operators can extract from “big data” the key information and create notifications destined to the maintenance teams, for intervention at the best time.

Their second role, also real time, is to analyze, filter and dispatch the failure notifications generated by the Operator (Control Room):

• Confirm necessity of Alstom intervention or reject failure notifications,
• Complete notifications with all additional data available (e.g. associated faults codes, relevant maintenance history, etc.) providing as many inputs as possible to the troubleshooters to make their intervention fast and conclusive,
• Support the maintenance planner to allocate estimated intervention time.

The third role of the Help Desk is to support the Alstom teams in improving/sustaining reliability performance of the Rolling Stock, doing background analysis of all data collected: received via various remote systems or collected “manually” by the maintainers on the different equipment. The purpose of this is:

• Explaining spot failures,
• Looking for recurrent failures, supporting the Warranty Manager and Engineering Manager to continuously improve the Reliability performance,
• Assessing the efficiency of corrective actions related to recurrent issues, monitoring their effect especially for system Reliability. 

The fourth and last role of the Fleet Support Role is to remotely assist Amtrak staff for the execution of the maintenance operations (preventive and corrective), during shifts not covered by the dedicated team of on-site support engineers. This remote support may call cutting-edge technology such as augmented-reality glasses!

Because knowing perfectly how the rolling stock works is key to provide high quality and accurate support, the Fleet Support Engineers will start with several months of “hands on” experience on the trains during the validation period prior to revenue the revenue service. This “induction” phase will be significant business travel, especially in Philadelpha, PA, and within the NEC (North East Corridor) between Washington, DC and Boston, MA where the first trains will complete their type tests.

During this period, the Fleet Support Engineers may have an active role for the validations, immersed in the Rolling Stock team, as “Train Control & Monitoring System (TCMS) key user”. Specializing in controls engineering, fault management, and software development.  As well as supporting On-Site Support engineers in plan maintenance, work instruction validation, and supporting validation activities for corrective action.  

Reporting

The Help Desk Operators report hierarchically to the Maintenance Project Engineering Manager, and functionally to the Maintenance Fleet Planner.

Network & Links (main ones)

Internal : Troubleshooters, Services and Rolling Stock Engineering teams, Maintenance Planner.

External : Control Room, possibly drivers.

Education Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.  Equivalent experience on a 1:1 basis may substitute for the degree.

2 years’ experience in engineering related field.

Knowledge of railway systems is highly desired.

Utilize your skills in strategic system thinking.

Technical Knowledge / Experience

Minimum 2 years in Railways environment, ideally in systems integration or maintenance.

Minimum overall understanding of train functions is mandatory (any kind of rolling stock: LRV, metro, regional, mainline…) and experience of Train Systems and/or Train Control.

Behavioral and Technical Skills / Competencies

• Autonomous

• Good communication abilities and transparency

• Able to say 'no' and manage pressure situations.

• Able to make decisions considering rules and using common sense.

• Open to learn from others.

• Languages: fluent English compulsory / appreciated: French

Job Location / Time / Mobility Requirements

The job is based in New Castle, DE.

Eventually Alstom Fleet Support Engineers may be hosted in Amtrak’s CNOC (Consolidated National Operations Center) located in Wilmington, DE.  

Current organization is based on 3 shifts for 24/7 support.

Initial months business trips are required to Alstom site Philadelphia, PA.

You don’t need to be a train enthusiast to thrive with us. We guarantee that when you step onto one of our trains with your friends or family, you’ll be proud. If you’re up for the challenge, we’d love to hear from you!

Important to note

As a global business, we’re an equal-opportunity employer that celebrates diversity across the 63  countries we operate in. We’re committed to creating an inclusive workplace for everyone.