A system and method for automating railroad maintenance for a tie gang using electronic tie marking (ETM) configured to optimize railroad asset maintenance. The system enables the automating of an adaptive maintenance process for the asset that is being maintainanced. The system can identify a railroad asset scheduled for maintenance using various forms of inspection including real-time kinematic (RTK)-corrected GPS data, radar signal processing data, and real-time imaging. The system also provides for the acquisition and upload of asset pictures for verification and analysis of a railroad asset. The system can identify a next location to perform maintenance and can calculate an optimum path based on sensor input incorporating machine-specific and environmental characteristics. The system further can provide a customizable user interface to identify, track, and process information related to maintenance of the railroad asset.

A system and method for inspecting a railway track using sensors oriented at an oblique angle relative to a rail vehicle on which the system is traveling. The orientation of the sensors allows for different data to be gathered regarding a particular rail including rail design specifications (gathered based on manufacturer markings detected and analyzed by the system), rail seat abrasion values based on direct measurement of rails from the oblique angle, and other analysis of rail features including joint bars, rail welds, bond wires, rail holes, and broken rails. The use of an air blower, ducts, and one or more air distribution lids over the sensors helps remove debris from blocking the sensors and structured light generators.

A method for determining a target geometry of a track for correcting the geometry of the track. An actual geometry of the track is detected first on a track section by a measuring system and the target geometry is calculated on the basis of the actual track geometry afterwards by way of a computing unit. Actual position points of the track are detected along the track section by a position detection system, with at least one actual position point being given to the computing unit as a point of restraint, and with the target geometry being calculated by the computing unit such that the target geometry is adapted to the actual geometry as a sequence of geometric track alignment design elements and is placed through the preset point of restraint. The method achieves a significant increase in quality compared to the known compensation method using pre-measurement.

A system for modeling risk of rail buckling in railroad infrastructure is presented. The system can receive a myriad of data related to railroad tracks and/or railroad operations, and weight the data using specially-designed weighting factors that can be unique to each data type. The weighted data can be transformed via specialized algorithms to generate location scores reflective of a risk isolated to a particular area. The system can further utilize additional specialized algorithms to elucidate how such isolated risk can be extrapolated from one location to another. The system can implement a multilayer approach, formulating one or more layers of risk models and aggregating such models into an overarching risk model that can more-accurately forecast risk of rail buckling in a railroad track.

A system and method for automating railroad maintenance for a tie gang using electronic tie marking (ETM) configured to optimize railroad asset maintenance. The system enables the automating of an adaptive maintenance process for the asset that is being maintainanced. The system can identify a railroad asset scheduled for maintenance using various forms of inspection including real-time kinematic (RTK)-corrected GPS data, radar signal processing data, and real-time imaging. The system also provides for the acquisition and upload of asset pictures for verification and analysis of a railroad asset. The system can identify a next location to perform maintenance and can calculate an optimum path based on sensor input incorporating machine-specific and environmental characteristics. The system further can provide a customizable user interface to identify, track, and process information related to maintenance of the railroad asset.

The invention relates to a method for contactless recording of a track geometry of a track by means of a rail vehicle which is moved along the track on on-track undercarriages (4), wherein profile data of the track extending in transverse direction are compiled by means of a laser scanner. In this, it is provided that, by means of an evaluation device, profile data are evaluated relative to a reference base pre-defined on the rail vehicle in order to derive from this the course of a track central axis and/or a rail. The invention additionally relates to a rail vehicle which comprise an evaluation device configured for carrying out the method. Thus, no further measuring system is required to determine a track position.

A system and method for monitoring a track and/or rail employs one or more distance measuring imagers mounted to a railcar and directed to image the track and/or rails wherein the images are geo-tagged with location data. Geo-tagged distance measurements are processed to determine at least track gauge and/or at least rail fastener integrity. The system and method may also determine other track and/or rail integrity issues including, e.g., rail profile, rail alignment, center point dip, cross level, rail cant, wheel wear, wheel integrity, rail wear, rail defects, and/or rail temperature. The system and method may also determine when inspection and/or maintenance of the track is indicated, and provide selected records of where and/or when such inspection and/or maintenance is indicated.

A Railroad Tie Management System is disclosed that can provide an efficient and organized method of inspecting and auditing ties in a rail system. Tie mark files can be retrieved by a client from a server or database in operable communication with the client, and upon instantiation of an inspection process governed by the system, an inspection information table and tie grid can be generated. The tie grid can operable to receive commands from a user, and the inspection information table is operable to automatically increment and decrement fields contained within in response to changes within the tie grid. The tie grid can also be configured to incorporate data from tie scans and serve the data to the client in a useful and user-friendly manner.

A system and method for inspecting a railway track using sensors oriented at an oblique angle relative to a rail vehicle on which the system is traveling. The use of an air blower, ducts, and one or more air distribution lids over the sensors helps remove debris from blocking the sensors and structured light generators.

A system and method for detecting buckled rail and for predicting a risk for rail buckling is disclosed. The method may comprise receiving data from a camera mounted on locomotive traveling on the railroad track. The data may include images of the buckled rail and dimensions of the buckled rail when the camera detects the buckled rail. The data may further include images of the ballast and condition of the ballast. The method may further comprise receiving data from a thermal camera mounted to the locomotive indicating the temperature of the rails. The method may further comprise transmitting an alarm signal to a display interface of a remote unit if the dimensions of the buckled rail meet a predetermined threshold, and predicting a risk for rail buckling based at least on the temperature of the rails and the condition of the ballast.