In his doctoral research, Mika Silvast developed a measurement-data-based method to support railway maintenance and rehabilitation planning. His research shows that combining track measurement data, ground penetrating radar surveys, and other datasets describing the track and its surrounding environment enables early identification of frost- and structure-related problems, as well as their systematic classification and prioritisation. This reduces disruptions to rail traffic and enables more effective targeting of maintenance and rehabilitation costs. It is therefore an impactful contribution in many ways!
Mika’s public defence will be held on Friday 30 January 2026 in Hervanta. You can take a look at the dissertation here: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-4366-8
The opponents will be Professor Pasi Lautala (Michigan Technological University, USA) and Professor Alireza Ahmadi (Luleå University of Technology, Sweden). The custos will be Associate Professor Heikki Luomala from the Faculty of Built Environment at Tampere University.
You are warmly welcome to follow the public defence either on site or remotely!
Teams meeting: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/join-a-meeting
Meeting ID: 383 446 252 378 67
Passcode: H59hW6Hx