The Overlook of Maintenance Practices in the Digitalization of Railway Maintenance Records

Abstract

We present an ethnographic study of railway maintenance work, with a focus on digitalized maintenance records. This on-going research is taking place in a small private railway maintenance company in the south of France for two years. We describe the integration of maintenance records in a wide material environment, and the evolution from filling in these records on paper to smartphones. This research brings some nuance on the beneficial effects of the 'digital transformation' in this industry, and shows how the workers compensate for the overlook of their practices in the design of the digital records.