Streamlined rail monitoring for enhanced safety and efficiency
Image 1: Total station monitoring rail track (photo courtesy of Dütschler+Partner AG)
Rail monitoring, streamlined
Understanding rail track geometry is paramount for ensuring the safety of railway traffic, especially in active construction zones, areas prone to natural hazards, or where aging infrastructure requires renewal. The Trimble® 4D Control™ (T4D) software, featuring the T4D Rail module, offers enhanced capabilities to simplify rail monitoring workflows. This empowers rail operators to proactively detect potential infrastructure issues by tracking geometry changes over time, leading to more informed decision-making.
Traditional rail monitoring can be a time-consuming process, often requiring multiple surveyors on site, which can disrupt traffic and introduce safety risks. Furthermore, manual calculations are prone to errors. The T4D Rail module addresses these real-world challenges by providing automated track monitoring deliverables that adapt to diverse project specifications and regional requirements, offering enhanced flexibility for both field and office operations.
T4D Rail Featured Updates
1. AMTS rail monitoring with or without the track's as-built
A significant advancement in T4D is the ability to monitor tracks using an Automated Monitoring Total Station (AMTS) even without prior as-built track data. This feature is particularly valuable for projects with high rail traffic, where track access windows are limited.
Users can install the monitoring prisms and start monitoring without needing to block or stop the traffic to collect the as-built geometry of the track. T4D Rail takes it from there and automatically calculates the rail geometry parameters based on the prism position.
After hearing about this new supported workflow, Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Ekkehart Grillmayer from GeoAT in Austria said, "This provides significant additional value for smaller projects in my region, for example, construction of various passages beneath the track.” He continued, “For these types of projects, information about the relative parameter changes is sufficient. A critical concern for project owners is ensuring the stability of the geometry throughout the relatively short construction period, and this workflow addresses that requirement."
Image 2: Monitoring prisms installed on the track (photo courtesy of Wild Ingenieure AG)
2. Proactive and flexible tiltmeter support for early detection
Not every project necessitates a complete AMTS solution delivering absolute geometry data. Tiltmeters offer added flexibility for rail monitoring by providing data on geometry changes, which can serve as a proactive warning system. In cases where a change is detected, manual track surveys can always be conducted to get absolute data.
There are also projects and scenarios where tiltmeters can be a complete solution, delivering the necessary data defined in the project requirements. Discussing tiltmeters for rail monitoring, Brent Dawson from UPG, Australia, said, "The big value of this approach is the ease of installation and the ability to deliver required data for monitoring the change of the most critical rail parameter: twist."
Image 3: Tiltmeters monitoring railway track geometry
3. Tailoring the T4D Rail module to your project needs
Given the regional and project-specific variations in rail geometry parameter calculations, T4D allows for extensive customization and adaptation of the rail section. This includes the flexibility to choose the appropriate height reference to ensure correct outputted and visualized data. Recognizing the regional variations in twist units and their visualizations, T4D now incorporates diverse twist calculation methods to meet these specific needs.
Additionally, the T4D Rail module introduces a parameter calculation for both rails (see Image 4). Calculated data can be exported into a detailed .xlsx file that contains essential information necessary for generating tailored stakeholder reports.
Image 4: Selecting rail geometry parameters to be monitored
Image 5: Visualized change of vertical displacement of the left and right rail
Continue learning about T4D
To learn more about the many ways T4D automates simplicity, visit the T4D 6.5 release blog.
Visit the T4D webpage and T4D Rail webpage to learn more, read version 6.5 release notes and download here.
T4D Rail availability
To add the Rail module to your T4D software platform, contact the Trimble Monitoring team or contact your local Trimble Authorized Distributor.