This thesis examines the contribution of digitalization and integrated management of infrastructure data to the resilience of the railway supply chain, using the MUIF Puglia project as an exploratory case study. The railway system is interpreted not as a traditional material supply chain, but as a service supply chain in which service continuity depends on the coordination among infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, maintenance providers, technology suppliers, and information systems. The work integrates two theoretical perspectives: Supply Chain Management, used to analyze network structure and the role of information visibility, and Hollnagel’s Resilience Engineering, employed to assess the project’s contribution to the four resilience capacities of monitoring, responding, learning, and anticipating. MUIF Puglia—a Unified Model of the Railway Infrastructure covering approximately 710 km of regional network managed by four different operators—is examined as an information infrastructure that integrates multi‑source surveys, georeferenced asset inventories, and data validation processes, made accessible through a WebGIS platform. The research adopts a qualitative methodology based on technical and project documentation and four interviews with MERMEC Engineering professionals involved in system development. Findings show that the main initial issue is not the absence of data, but their fragmentation across heterogeneous sources, formats, and organizational responsibilities. MUIF addresses this through four mechanisms: unique identification and georeferencing of assets, integration of complementary data sources, validation and correlation of information, and shared access and reuse of data. The contribution to resilience capacities is differentiated: direct for monitoring; indirect for response, as the system improves localization and decision quality but does not control the resources required for intervention; and conditional for learning and anticipation, which require continuous updates, historical series, and integration with maintenance systems. The main theoretical contribution lies in linking Supply Chain Management and Resilience Engineering through the concept of visibility; the methodological contribution lies in distinguishing digital functionalities, managerial mechanisms, and expected resilience effects, avoiding attribution of outcomes not yet measurable. From an applied perspective, the research identifies the conditions required for MUIF to evolve from a georeferenced inventory into a tool embedded in asset‑management processes and, in the future, into a foundation for digital‑twin and predictive‑maintenance applications.
La presente tesi analizza il contributo della digitalizzazione e della gestione integrata del dato infrastrutturale alla resilienza della supply chain ferroviaria, utilizzando il progetto MUIF Puglia come caso studio esplorativo. Il sistema ferroviario viene interpretato non come una catena di approvvigionamento di materiali, ma come una service supply chain nella quale la continuità del servizio dipende dal coordinamento tra gestori dell'infrastruttura, imprese ferroviarie, manutentori, fornitori tecnologici e sistemi informativi. Il lavoro integra due prospettive teoriche: il Supply Chain Management, per analizzare struttura della rete e ruolo della visibilità informativa, e la Resilience Engineering di Hollnagel, per valutare il contributo del progetto alle quattro capacità di monitorare, rispondere, apprendere e anticipare. Il MUIF Puglia, un Modello Unico dell'Infrastruttura Ferroviaria che copre circa 710 km di rete regionale gestiti da quattro operatori diversi, viene esaminato come infrastruttura informativa che integra rilievi multi-sorgente, censimento georeferenziato degli asset e validazione dei dati, resi disponibili tramite portale WebGIS. La ricerca adotta una metodologia qualitativa basata su documentazione tecnica e progettuale e su quattro interviste a professionisti di MERMEC Engineering coinvolti nello sviluppo del sistema. I risultati mostrano che la principale criticità non è l'assenza di dati, ma la loro frammentazione tra fonti, formati e responsabilità differenti. Il MUIF interviene attraverso quattro meccanismi: identificazione univoca e georeferenziazione degli asset, integrazione di fonti complementari, validazione e correlazione delle informazioni, accesso condiviso e riutilizzo del dato. Il contributo alle capacità resilienti risulta differenziato: diretto per il monitoraggio, indiretto per la risposta (poiché il sistema migliora la localizzazione ma non controlla le risorse per l'intervento), e condizionato per apprendimento e anticipazione, che richiedono aggiornamenti continuativi, serie storiche e integrazione con i sistemi manutentivi. Il principale contributo teorico consiste nel collegare Supply Chain Management e Resilience Engineering attraverso il concetto di visibility; quello metodologico nella distinzione tra funzionalità digitali, meccanismi gestionali ed effetti resilienti attesi, evitando di attribuire alla tecnologia risultati non ancora misurabili. Sul piano applicativo, la ricerca individua le condizioni necessarie affinché il MUIF evolva da inventario georeferenziato a strumento incorporato nei processi di asset management e, in prospettiva, a base per applicazioni di digital twin e manutenzione predittiva.
DIGITALIZZAZIONE E RESILIENZA NELLA SUPPLY CHAIN FERROVIARIA: IL CASO MUIF PUGLIA
LAERA, FEDERICA
2025/2026
Abstract
This thesis examines the contribution of digitalization and integrated management of infrastructure data to the resilience of the railway supply chain, using the MUIF Puglia project as an exploratory case study. The railway system is interpreted not as a traditional material supply chain, but as a service supply chain in which service continuity depends on the coordination among infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, maintenance providers, technology suppliers, and information systems. The work integrates two theoretical perspectives: Supply Chain Management, used to analyze network structure and the role of information visibility, and Hollnagel’s Resilience Engineering, employed to assess the project’s contribution to the four resilience capacities of monitoring, responding, learning, and anticipating. MUIF Puglia—a Unified Model of the Railway Infrastructure covering approximately 710 km of regional network managed by four different operators—is examined as an information infrastructure that integrates multi‑source surveys, georeferenced asset inventories, and data validation processes, made accessible through a WebGIS platform. The research adopts a qualitative methodology based on technical and project documentation and four interviews with MERMEC Engineering professionals involved in system development. Findings show that the main initial issue is not the absence of data, but their fragmentation across heterogeneous sources, formats, and organizational responsibilities. MUIF addresses this through four mechanisms: unique identification and georeferencing of assets, integration of complementary data sources, validation and correlation of information, and shared access and reuse of data. The contribution to resilience capacities is differentiated: direct for monitoring; indirect for response, as the system improves localization and decision quality but does not control the resources required for intervention; and conditional for learning and anticipation, which require continuous updates, historical series, and integration with maintenance systems. The main theoretical contribution lies in linking Supply Chain Management and Resilience Engineering through the concept of visibility; the methodological contribution lies in distinguishing digital functionalities, managerial mechanisms, and expected resilience effects, avoiding attribution of outcomes not yet measurable. From an applied perspective, the research identifies the conditions required for MUIF to evolve from a georeferenced inventory into a tool embedded in asset‑management processes and, in the future, into a foundation for digital‑twin and predictive‑maintenance applications.I documenti in UNITESI sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14253/110919