A rail-monitoring element includes a carrier on which a strain sensor is attached. The strain sensor may be an optical fiber having a fiber Bragg grating. The carrier has an adhesive layer for adhesive attachment to a rail having a thermally activatable or thermally curable adhesive. The adhesive layer has a heating element having contacts for receiving electrical energy. The rail-monitoring element can be installed more easily and in a manner which saves more energy.

The present invention relates to methods of improving the reliability and accuracy of level crossing warning systems. The invention is comprised of an axle counter based system that detects the presence and calculates the speed of a train approaching a level crossing and adjusts the activation time for any warning system using a pre-defined period.

The present invention relates to methods of improving the reliability and accuracy of level crossing warning systems. The invention is comprised of an axle counter based system that detects the presence and calculates the speed of a train approaching a level crossing and adjusts the activation time for any warning system using a pre-defined period.

A system for simulating a railroad track. The system comprises one or more modular track simulation units that are smaller than conventional track simulators and are easy to use with and be connected to a device being tested (e.g., grade crossing predictor). Each track simulation unit may have one of a plurality of impedances associated with a corresponding railroad track length. The units are combinable such that the system can simulate multiple, different track lengths. Each unit has a plurality of test points that can be connected to the device under test and/or used to alter conditions of the simulated track.

A method for assembling a strain gauge arrangement for an axle counter, includes: a strain sensor element; a carrier, to which the strain sensor element is fastened; and a railroad track structure to be monitored. When the carrier is fastened to the structure at least a part of it is kept in an elastically deformed state. The carrier is embodied with a first carrier piece opposing a second carrier piece. The strain sensor element is fastened to the first carrier piece with a first fixing point, to the second carrier piece with a second fixing point, and to neither the first nor the second carrier piece with a central section between the fixing points. At least the part of the carrier is elastically braced by means of a bracing element for when adhesively bonding to the structure to be monitored. Thereafter the bracing element is removed.

A fibre sensing apparatus (100) comprises an interrogation unit (104) to interrogate a sensing fibre with optical radiation, and to detect an optical signal returned from the fibre, and processing circuitry (114). A portion of the fibre may be excited with a test signal. The processing circuitry comprises an assessment module (115) to analyse the optical signal returned from the excited portion of fibre, and to determine at least one operational characteristic of the apparatus based on the detected optical signal.

A strain gauge arrangement for an axle counter has a strain sensor element, a carrier and a railway line structure that is to be monitored. At least one part of the carrier is maintained in an elastically deformed state by the structure when the carrier is secured to the structure. The carrier is formed from a first carrier piece and a second carrier piece, which lie opposite one another at a distance from one another. The strain sensor element has one first fixing point fixed to the first carrier piece, and one second fixing point fixed to the second carrier piece, and a middle section mounted between the fixing points which are not fixed to the first or second carrier piece. The strain gauge arrangement is simple to handle and a drop can be reliably detected and a strain state of the strain sensor element can be predetermined more easily.

A method for monitoring a railway track may include: detecting a first monitoring signal by a distributed acoustic sensor at an initial position while a rail vehicle passes the initial position, the distributed acoustic sensor being arranged along the track; detecting a second monitoring signal by the distributed acoustic sensor at least one predefined position along the track while a rail vehicle passes the predefined position; and comparing the first and second monitoring signals with each other. The first monitoring signal includes features that each relate to one axle of the rail vehicle passing the initial position. The second monitoring signal includes features that each relate to one axle of the rail vehicle passing the predefined position. The comparing includes counting the features relating to axles of the respective passing rail vehicle for the first and second monitoring signals. Furthermore, a monitoring unit may monitor a railway track.

A sensor unit for detecting the approach of a train, the sensor unit having first and second non-rail-mounted sensors, wherein the non-rail-mounted sensors are different from one another. A first control unit, itself having first and second non-rail-mounted sensors, wherein the non-rail-mounted sensors are different from one another in that they work on different physical principles, wherein the first sensor unit and first control unit are arranged to cooperate with one another to detect the approach of a train.

The present disclosure discloses a preceding train identification method based on an object controller, a vehicle on board controller and a train. The method includes: carrying out communication interaction, by a vehicle on board controller of a train, with the OC to acquire the ID information of all running trains within the jurisdiction of the OC, before the train enters the jurisdiction of the object controller OC; communicating, by the vehicle on board controller, with the train corresponding to each piece of ID information according to the ID information of all running trains to acquire the position information of the train corresponding to each piece of ID information; and sorting, by the vehicle on board controller, the position information of the trains corresponding to all ID information in an axle counter sorting manner to identify the ID information of an adjacent preceding train of a present train.