Current trends in digitalization and servitization are transforming business models across all industrial sectors, including infrastructuremaintenance. This paper explores how business model innovation in the gravel road maintenance sector can capitalize on the opportunitiespresented by these trends. Data were collected in a single case study through in-depth interviews, site observations, and open dialogues andworkshops. Four different business models for gravel road maintenance services are proposed. The first two business models are variants oftraditional contracting, involving the execution of maintenance according to predefined requirement specifications for either private or publiccustomers. Business model 3 is based on functional contracting, focusing on performance-based contracts. Business model 4 introduces aplatform-based business model, where the supplier provides a platform and network for offering maintenance services. The opportunities andprerequisites for each business model are discussed, particularly in relation to digitalization needs. It is concluded that the levels of strategicthinking, degree of digitalization, types of competence needs, and collaboration typically increase across the business models. Additionally, thedigital maturity of both the service contractor and the customers is identified as a key factor for successful implementation.

Gravel roads connect rural areas to urban centres, providing essential access for residents and entrepreneurs with a higher deterioration rate than paved roads. Maintaining these roads at an acceptable level of service is crucial for efficient and safe transportation of goods and services and improved ride quality. Visual windshield surveys are the primary condition assessment method for gravel roads but are unreliable and susceptible to human judgment errors. Technological advancements, particularly sensor technology, offer opportunities for improved condition data collection and assessment for gravel roads. However, the quality of information obtained for various technologies could vary, affecting the condition assessment output and decision-making. For effective decision-making, high-quality information is required. This paper investigates and compares the information quality of the vehicle vibration response signals collected using an Integrated Circuit Piezoelectric (ICP) and smartphone accelerometers on three (3) gravel roads, RT1, RT2 and RT3. The empirical analysis is based on the hypothesis that the quality of information collected with the Smartphone and ICP accelerometers is comparable. Statistical properties, including estimates of time-varying properties of the signal’s mean square values, power spectral density (PSD) and the instantaneous power for eight (8) adjacent frequency sub-bands of the measurements with the Smartphone and ICP (resampled) accelerometers on gravel roads RT1, RT2 and RT3 were compared. The measurements with the ICP accelerometer yielded higher-quality information than smartphone accelerometers. In conclusion, assessing the gravel road condition using technologies that offer high-quality information for efficient decision-making is essential.

Unpaved roads, usually found in rural and sparsely populated areas, are prone to dust, potholes, corrugations, rutting and loose gravel and deteriorate faster than paved roads. Thus, they require regular condition monitoring to keep them at the required level of service. However, the cost of condition assessment could be huge, considering how vast and far away they are from the cities. Currently, subjective visual surveys and manual methods for monitoring and assessing the condition of unpaved roads dominate, while data-driven objective methods are not commonly applied for maintenance planning and decision-making. The paper proposes a participatory data-driven approach for unpaved road condition monitoring based on the literature and an exploratory case study of road maintenance practices in Sweden and Zambia. Participatory data collection empowers regular unpaved road users to collect road condition data, for instance, by equipping their vehicles with the relevant data acquisition devices embedded with a global positioning system (GPS) as they drive on unpaved roads on a typical day. By integrating open data collection aligned with sustainable practices, regular unpaved road users (garbage collectors, postal service providers, and road owners) share the collected condition data with the road governing bodies and process it for Nowcasting and Forecasting the unpaved road condition, thus providing valuable information for condition monitoring of unpaved roads. Thus, road users can support long-term maintenance planning and decision-making, potentially improving unpaved road management and minimising the cost of collecting and evaluating unpaved road condition data. However, the participating road users require training in data acquisition, and the vehicles must be calibrated according to the sensor properties, vehicle vibration response and speed to ensure quality data collection. Based on the literature and the case study findings, participatory data collection for unpaved roads can provide an efficient and effective alternative for collecting road condition data, accomplishing broad coverage.

Gravel road deterioration leads to the disintegration of gravel, resulting in road irregularities such as potholes, rutting and corrugation. The vehicle vibration response to these irregularities on the road surface contributes to the road roughness perceived by gravel road users in terms of ride quality (comfort or discomfort). Therefore, it is crucial to maintain gravel roads at an acceptable level of service for improved ride quality and efficient and safe transportation. In particular, corrugations are a safety hazard that causes discomfort to road users and can also cause loss of control of the vehicle, especially at high speeds and when loose gravel surrounds the corrugations. This paper investigates the contribution of corrugations to the mean square value of the squared magnitude of vehicle vibration response and also the interaction between the vehicle speed and the magnitude of the vehicle vibration response. The mean square values of the vehicle vibration response signals are estimated using a moving average low-pass filter, and the signals are split into adjacent frequency sub-bands with the aid of band-pass filters defined based on the Discrete Fourier transform (DFT). The results of the estimated mean square values of the vibration responses and the band-pass filtered vibration responses reveal that corrugations have a more pronounced impact on the magnitude of the mean values of the squared vehicle vibration response than potholes and would thus significantly contribute to the roughness of gravel roads and the perceived ride quality. A positive correlation between vehicle speed and the magnitude of vibration response to gravel road irregularities was also observed, i.e., increasing driving speed resulted in higher vibration magnitudes. These findings show the potential of the study approach for gravel road condition assessment.

Unpaved roads, usually found in rural and sparsely populated areas, are prone to dust, potholes, corrugations, rutting and loose gravel and deteriorate faster than paved roads. Currently, subjective visual surveys and manual methods for monitoring and assessing the condition of unpaved roads dominate. In contrast, data-driven objective methods must be applied holistically for maintenance planning and decision-making. The paper proposes a participatory data-driven approach for unpaved road condition monitoring based on the literature and an exploratory case study of road maintenance practices in  Sweden and Zambia. Participatory data collection and sensing empower regular unpaved road users to collect road condition data with their smartphones using applications embedded with a global positioning system (GPS) while driving on an unpaved road and carrying out their typical day-to-day activities. The data is shared with the road governing bodies and processed to establish the current road condition (Nowcasting) and the expected future condition (Forecasting). The proposed approach allows road users to be part of the maintenance process, minimising the cost of collecting and evaluating road condition data, resulting in improved unpaved road maintenance planning and decision-making for unpaved roads. Based on the literature and the case study findings, participatory data collection and sensing for unpaved roads can provide an efficient and effective alternative for collecting road condition data, accomplishing broad coverage. The data collected can provide valuable information for unpaved road condition monitoring and maintenance planning and potentially improve unpaved road management. However, the participating road users must be trained in data acquisition to ensure quality data collection.

Gravel roads form a significant share of the global road network, usually in sparsely populated rural areas. They are important, especially in agriculture, tourism, and forestry, connecting rural to urban areas. This systematic literature study comprises 105 reviewed publications on gravel road maintenance. Review articles on maintenance management practices, especially concerning objective condition assessment and data-driven methods (DDMs), are lacking. Therefore, this review provides a concise overview of current gravel road maintenance practices and ongoing research on objective condition assessment and DDMs for gravel road maintenance. It offers researchers in gravel road maintenance and other related fields a clear indication of where to focus their research efforts, as it suggests the direction for future research. Visual assessment methods are predominant for monitoring the condition of gravel roads, while objective methods and DDMs are not common. Research on gravel roads and their maintenance has increased in the last two decades, especially in North America and Northern Europe. Condition assessment is shifting from subjective to objective methods, utilizing knowledge from technological advancements in image processing, vibration and acoustics analysis, and so forth. There are some excellent research initiatives for objectively assessing the condition of gravel roads and DDMs, but the practical implementation is limited. Implementing objective assessment methods and DDMs generally improves the management of gravel roads with regard to decision-making, maintenance costs, safety, and the stability and comfort of the ride. Objective condition assessment and DMs have the potential to enhance maintenance practices in the maintenance of gravel roads.

The efficient maintenance of gravel roads depends on digital tools and data as well as information systems adapted for specific needs while conforming with current standards for better interconnectivity. Within gravel road maintenance, cloud-based solutions are a key alternative. This because necessary information, such as road condition data, could be shared throughout the network and provide the opportunity to coordinate maintenance activities between stakeholders. Effective standards are essential since they permit various services with the ability to work together while at the same time supporting differences that ease competition and innovation. Among several maintenance standards, the OSA-CBM and MIMOSA CRIS database schema are intended for handling information exchange and communication within and between systems supporting condition-based maintenance. This paper tests the usability of these standards for translating context-dependent information into a standardized data set. The domain studied is gravel road maintenance. Critical data was gathered and elicited from different stakeholders and represented in the form of a conceptual information model. This paper exemplifies how the conceptual model could be mapped into a logical model with respect to the CRIS information model. The main results are in the form of a conceptual and logical information model for purposes of gravel road maintenance, as well as a procedure suggested for mapping the information model following specific steps. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Purpose The purpose is to describe new business opportunities within the Swedish railway industry and to support the development of business models that corresponds with the needs and requirements of Industry 4.0, here denoted as Service Management 4.0. Design/methodology/approach The study is an in-depth and descriptive case study of the Swedish railway system with specific focus on a railway vehicle maintainer. Public reports, statistics, internal documents, interviews and dialogues forms the basis for the empirical findings. Findings The article describes the complex business environment of the deregulated Swedish railway industry. Main findings are in the form of identified business opportunities and new business model propositions for one of the key actors, a vehicle maintainer. Originality/value The article provides valuable understanding of business strategy development within complex business environments and how maintenance related business models could be developed for reaching Service Management 4.0.

The gravel road network is an important function for rural residents and entrepreneurs. Traditional maintenance of gravel roads is well-functioning but provides a relatively high maintenance cost per unit length of the road, and every maintenance action as well as extraction and transport of new gravel contributes to increased climate impact and resource depletion. Today, maintenance planning is carried out periodically based on the maintenance history, which also is reflected in the economic models and procurement methods. Current maintenance plans may be enhanced and will not be a reliable basis in the future, e.g. due to climate change. Instead, real needs and conditions must be given greater consideration. Today, appropriate maintenance management systems are lacking, e.g. in order to be able to evaluate maintenance deficiencies, prioritize objects and choose the appropriate maintenance action. Moreover, the knowledge available at specific stakeholders is not shared with other actors. In this paper, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system for gravel road maintenance is proposed in the form of a cloud-based system covering the information needs of stakeholders in the gravel road maintenance ecosystem. Requirement specifications are given for the sub-systems intended for the maintenance executioner and the maintenance planner. The specifications are based on workshops and interviews conducted with stakeholders, where requirements were acquired e.g. in the form of User stories.

Approximately 300,000 km of the Swedish road network consists of gravel roads. These roads contribute to accessibility and accessibility throughout Sweden, which is especially important in rural areas. An annual operation and maintenance grant is paid to these roads to be maintained and kept open to public transport, but the grant covers only part of the total maintenance costs. Some of the costliest maintenance activities are planing and gravelling. When gravelling, natural resources in the form of rock and gravel are used, which is an energy-intensive process that has a negative impact on the environment. A couple of methods exist for recycling of gravel from the roads, but the utilization is rather limited. In order to promote and motivate recycling of gravel, it is important to highlight the environmental benefits of using recycled gravel, but also to be able to assess the economic impact as additional costs may arise. The overall purpose of the paper is to gain deeper understanding of the environmental and economic effects of recycling of gravel during gravel road maintenance. To achieve this, a calculation model is developed to estimate the environmental impact and economic effects of gravel road maintenance. The purpose of the calculation model is to be able to compare alternative methods for gravelling. The calculation model is evaluated through a test scenario with three alternative methods for gravelling; two where gravel recycling is performed by the means of two different methods and one in which new gravel is used. The test scenario shows that it is economically and environmentally beneficial, in a life cycle perspective, to use recycled gravel for road gravelling.