Mitigating Switch Derailments Using Automated Inspection Solutions
(Room 208-209)
19 Sep 17
2:30 PM
-
3:00 PM
Tracks:
AREMA Technical Sessions- Engineering Services
Even with regular inspection of switches and crossings, derailments on switches happen all too frequently, resulting in lost revenue, damage to assets, service disruptions, injuries and worse. Current switch inspection procedures often ignore one of the most critical stresses placed on switches - the dynamic load they are exposed to as trains pass over them. This paper introduces automated switch inspection as a tool to help mitigate derailments on switches. It presents comparison data showing the differences in measured values for critical parameters between dynamic and static inspection. For example, German National Railways (GNR) has found that the differences between static and dynamic testing often exceed 17% on critical geometry measurement parameters. The observed differences in gauge are large enough to cause derailments. This paper also discusses the implementation of automated systems and their use in testing switches in mainline track and the mainline track itself. It presents examples of the numerous profile and geometry measurements the automated system captures and how this data is used to optimize maintenance programs and railroad infrastructure. For example, GNR has been able to increase the frequency of switch inspections while significantly lowering costs with complete switch inspections performed in minutes and entire stations and yards with hundreds of switches routinely tested in two or three shifts. Another network operator, Infrabel, has implemented automated switch inspections to reallocate 36 qualified inspectors to other important tasks.