Real Time Monitoring of Vehicle/Track Interaction

Abstract

ENSCO, Inc. has developed the next generation of real time Vehicle Track Interaction (V/TI) Monitoring system. The system provides continuous measurement of car body, truck motions and axle impacts. Software detects various acceleration events, tag them with GPS time and location information, and deliver the data to a central processing system through the latest Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless communication network. Upon delivery, the information is automatically tagged with milepost and subdivision or other geographic reference and loaded into an enterprise database management system. The data is available in near real time via the web on maps of the track and track infrastructure where users have the option of generating tabular reports or viewing the actual waveform of the acceleration event. In addition, the system offers real time pager and email notifications of predefined user events. This system automatically provides real time monitoring and detection of track profile and alignment problems, battered joints, rail-end mismatch, misaligned switches and damaged frogs. The information generated by this system helps railroads prioritize maintenance for these track anomalies that can cause equipment or lading damage. The location information picked up by the system allows railroads to navigate back to the track areas for follow up remedial actions or enhance track maintenance planning decisions. There are over 60 systems in operation on passenger and freight railroads. This paper will address the technology behind the monitoring, the events detected in the field, and how the system can be used to supplement traditional track inspection technologies.