Bridging the Gap Between the Latest Autonomous and Artificial Intelligence Technology and Railway Maintenance Needs Means Significant Cost Savings for Railways Autonomous inspection technology, artificial intelligence and bigdata analytics offer new paths for inspection without impact on revenue service.
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hen it comes to successfully identifying derailment risks, railways face two principal challenges: scheduling critical track activities within limited track time without impacting revenue service, and accomplishing that within budget.
Railways are continually tasked with finding creative ways to identify derailment risks and necessary maintenance without taking track time away from revenue cars. Fortunately, the integration of advanced technology – such as autonomous inspection, artificial intelligence and big-data analytics – offers unprecedented opportunities for planning efficiency and significant maintenance cost
savings. By integrating these technologies across the entire continuum of asset monitoring and maintenance planning – from track inspection and data collection to condition trending and data-driven prescriptive maintenance – railway maintenance engineers are realising improved safety and fewer revenue service disruptions.
Data Collection: Autonomous Systems Offer a Highly Efficient Solution Today, autonomous inspection systems deliver reliable, fully autonomous inspection with systems installed on passenger or freight cars that are in revenue service. One of the most significant advantages of autonomous
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inspection technology is that every movement of the host train offers an opportunity to evaluate the track, allowing for more frequent inspections without dedicated inspection vehicles taking up track time. The use of autonomous inspection technologies can result in earlier detection of track defects, allowing maintenance practices to be preventative rather than reactive. This ultimately reduces the risk of track-related derailments and decreases the cost per inspection.
ATGMS: Earlier Defect Detection ENSCO Rail, a pioneer in the research, development and delivery of track measurement and inspection technologies, has developed the Autonomous Track Geometry Measurement System