Beyond maintenance schedules: the predictive infrastructure landscape as we enter 2026

Nick Koiza, CEO at Smart Component Technologies, shares his perspective on how critical infrastructure management has evolved over the past year, and what 2026 could hold in store.

The past year has been one of contrasts for critical infrastructure sectors. While the technology for predictive maintenance has matured significantly, economic pressures have played a significant part in industry progress. Some regions are embracing new IoT and AI-driven solutions enthusiastically, whilst others remain cautious.

What's become increasingly clear throughout 2025 is that the conversation has shifted. It's no longer about whether predictive maintenance works – early adopters have proven that beyond doubt. The question now is how quickly organisations can overcome institutional inertia and budget constraints to deploy solutions that demonstrably reduce costs and improve safety.

Ageing infrastructure meets modern solutions

The challenge of ageing infrastructure has intensified across all three sectors we work in. Rail networks, particularly in established markets, are dealing with legacy systems that are decades old. In the UK specifically, the situation has reached a critical point where infrastructure is in desperate need of maintenance.

The situation has created a concerning paradox. Infrastructure organisations can now see that deploying IoT devices and AI machine learning solutions can dramatically cut maintenance costs and deliver excellent return on investment. They understand that automated monitoring can identify issues before they become catastrophic, extending asset lifespan and preventing expensive emergency repairs. Yet short-term budget pressures are preventing the very investments that would solve long-term financial challenges.

This balancing act isn't unique to rail. We’re seeing mining operations around the world face similar challenges with their infrastructure, particularly in remote locations where manual inspection is both costly and logistically complex. The energy sector, whilst facing different pressures, shares the same fundamental need to maintain critical assets in harsh environments while optimising maintenance budgets.

The education challenge continues

Perhaps the biggest barrier to progress in 2025 hasn't been technological, but cultural. Organisations are often set in established working practices that they struggle to break away from. Manual visual inspection has been the standard for so long that reimagining asset management around data-driven insights requires a significant mindset shift.

What we're seeing is that once organisations deploy predictive maintenance solutions and their engineers start working with the data, resistance evaporates quickly. Experienced engineers look at acceleration data or vertical displacement measurements and immediately recognise patterns that confirm their suspicions about specific sites. The technology doesn't replace their expertise – it enhances it, giving people the confidence in their decisions rather than making decisions for them.

The challenge for 2026 will be accelerating this education process. The longer organisations delay deploying data-driven solutions, the less historical data they have to work with, and the less effective their predictive capabilities become. Early adoption creates a compounding advantage: more data enables more accurate predictions, which enables better-scheduled interventions, which stabilises the network and reduces costs further.

Climate change adds new pressures

An emerging theme throughout 2025 has been the impact of extreme temperatures on critical infrastructure. Rail networks are experiencing increasing incidents of rail buckling in high temperatures, an issue that's becoming more pressing even in traditionally temperate climates like the UK. When you consider exposed routes – coastal areas or long stretches in open countryside – the vulnerability becomes even more apparent.

We’ve seen similar temperature-related issues in mining and energy operations, too. Regions experiencing temperature extremes need infrastructure that can perform reliably in 50-degree heat, buried in sand, or exposed to severe weather, often in remote locations where access for maintenance or repairs is difficult and expensive.

The technology exists to address these challenges, but again, it requires organisations to move beyond familiar approaches and embrace new methodologies.

Looking abroad for growth

One of the defining trends of 2025 has been the geographical shift in where infrastructure investment is occurring. Regions like the Middle East, Australia, and parts of Europe are now investing more aggressively in both new infrastructure and the maintenance of existing assets.

This is creating opportunities for organisations like SCT who can adapt their solutions for different environments and regulatory contexts. The experience gained in mature markets – understanding degradation patterns, refining predictive algorithms, developing resilient hardware – becomes valuable intellectual property that can be deployed globally. We expect to see this interest continue in 2026.

The skill shortage continues to bite

Across critical infrastructure, the shortage of experienced engineers remains a challenge. In some cases, redundancies have resulted in experienced maintenance staff being replaced with younger workers with less experience of challenging working conditions – for example, night work, exposure to weather, difficult environments.

This makes the case for automated monitoring and predictive maintenance even more compelling. With fewer experienced engineers available, making optimal use of their time becomes crucial. Having them respond to identified issues rather than spending nights conducting visual inspections represents a significant efficiency improvement that will only become more important as workforce constraints continue.

The year ahead

As we move into 2026, the technology for predictive maintenance is mature and proven. The business case is clear, with documented ROI and operational improvements from early adopters. The environmental and safety imperatives are increasingly urgent.

What remains to be seen is whether organisations can overcome short-term budget thinking and institutional resistance to change quickly enough. Those that do will extend asset lifespans, reduce costs, improve safety, and find they are well positioned for an increasingly data-driven future. Those that delay will likely face the consequences through increased emergency repairs, shortened asset lifespans, and, in the worst cases, catastrophic incidents that could have been prevented.

The infrastructure that keeps our societies functioning deserves better than deferred maintenance and reactive management. The tools to do better exist; 2026 will reveal which organisations have the foresight to use them.

To find out more about SCT's IoT and AI-driven solutions for rail, mining, and energy sectors, visit: www.smartcomptech.com