In the last few decades, several initiatives and approaches are set up to support maintenance procedures for the railway industry in adopting the principles of Industry 4.0. Contextualized maintenance technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) overlay can integrate virtual information on physical objects to improve decision-making and action-taking processes. Operators work in a dynamic working environment requiring both high adaptive capabilities and expert knowledge. There is a need to support the operators with tailor-based information that is customized and contextualized to their expertise and experience. It calls for AR tools and approaches that combine complex methodologies with high usability requirements. The development of these AR tools could benefit from a structured approach. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to propose an adaptive architectural framework aimed at shaping and structuring the process that provides operators with tailored support when using an AR tool. Case study research is applied within a revelatory railway industry setting. It was found that the framework ensures that self-explanatory AR systems can capture the knowledge of the operator, support the operator during maintenance activities, conduct failure analysis, provide problem-solving strategies, and improve learning capabilities. This study contributes to the necessity of having a human-centered approach for the successful adaption of AR technology tools for the railway industry.

Maintenance and troubleshooting contribute to the overall economic efficiency of rolling stock throughout its lifecycle, yet these activities are resource-intensive and incur significant costs. In the era of Industry 4.0 implementation, the escalating complexity of rolling stock poses challenges in troubleshooting and maintenance decision-making. Recognizing this, there is a pressing need for a structured solution that empowers maintenance operators with tools for effective organization, analysis, and real-time presentation of rolling stock system failures, facilitating streamlined troubleshooting and maintenance guidance. Functional blocks, providing systematic structuring of processes, and Augmented Reality (AR), offering enhanced visualization and decision support, emerge as solutions to navigate and streamline these challenges in the evolving industrial landscape. The intricacies of existing fault-diagnosing systems, particularly interconnected transmission of functional blocks for troubleshooting and AR integration, lack detailed explanation, hindering effective solutions. To address these challenges, this work leverages AR for troubleshooting rolling stock failures, introducing functional blocks to (1) collect maintenance and fault data, (2) integrate maintenance information based on failure diagnostics and maintenance patterns, and (3) deliver this information to maintenance operators through AR. The developed Sequential Augmented Reality Assist (SARA) method, demonstrates the sequential implementation of AR troubleshooting functional blocks in an industrial context, providing a systematic solution to the complexities involved.