This article first appeared in the Railway-News magazine, Issue 3 2022.
Follow our track geometry and defects remotely and in real time with our IoT solution.
Railway tracks are permanently subject to numerous constraints, which can be weather conditions (thermal amplitude depending on the season, etc.), the stability of the ground (natural movements, seismic activity, etc.) or wear and tear linked to their use (passage of trains, etc.). Playing a key role in reducing carbon gases in transport and driven by the will and ambition of the public authorities, the railway network must also be able to manage increasing demands for capacity and availability (both for passengers and freight).
The monitoring of ‘track geometry’, i.e. rail deformations, is therefore a major challenge for both infrastructure managers and network operators. It is in fact a question of guaranteeing smooth running on the track, not only for passenger comfort but also – and above all! – for safety reasons.
Currently, this rail track geometry monitoring is mainly carried out by inspection rounds, which can be visual and / or done with instruments. These rounds are costly, both in terms of time and equipment, especially as it is sometimes necessary to immobilise all or part of the rail traffic.
Detecting defects is therefore limited – firstly, because the prohibitive cost of the rounds means that only certain portions of track are inspected daily (with no direct logic between the monitoring and potential defects); secondly, because it is not possible to follow up on the apparition or the development of the deterioration of the defects observed between two inspections.
This solution takes the aforesaid difficulties into account and puts forward a very simple idea – capitalise on the ordinary rotations of the rolling stock to make it a firsthand witness of the state of the network.
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