VINCI Highways expands predictive maintenance innovation to four new tunnels in Greece
VINCI Highways, concessionaire of the Athens-Pyrgos highway (Olympia Odos), together with its Greek partners Avax, Aktor and GEK Terna, has extended a predictive maintenance innovation to four large tunnels located the Patras Bypass. This marks the first stage of scaling up the new system, with the goal of ultimately equipping all tunnels on Olympia Odos highway in the future.
This innovation, named “Smart Tunnels” ensures that tunnel equipment, such as ventilation, water pumps or power generators, continuously operates at peak efficiency. Instead of waiting for systems to fail at the end of their life, the system determines the optimal time for repair or replacement before failure, ensuring uninterrupted equipment functionality.
The system consists in equipping tunnel equipment with sensors using IoT that collect real-time data. The data is transmitted to an AI that detects patterns to predict potential problems and enable timely interventions before the equipment breaks down.
The innovation was developed in collaboration with startups ES Systems and Ex Machina. It was first tested as a pilot in a 700m tunnel along Olympia Odos near Patras. The pilot confirmed the feasibility of the system and its positive impact:
- reduction of equipment failure by 30%
- improved response times in maintenance by 25%
- increase of system life, reaching about 25% for batteries and up to 50% for pumps and fans.
With this large-scale development – the first of its kind in Greece – Olympia Odos continues to bring technological progress in highway operations and quality of service.
