Laser Rail Inspection System (LRAIL™)

Railmetrics’™ Laser Rail Inspection System (LRAIL) delivers an entirely new and more cost effective means to inspect railway assets.

Most rail inspection sensors in the marketplace today are limited to a single function; they measure a specific parameter such as gauge, or perform a single task, such as imaging or tie grading.

The LRAIL delivers greater ROI by delivering a multi-functional inspection that delivers 2D imaging and 3D scanning in a single pass with fully automated analysis using Artificial Intelligence.

The LRAIL captures an impressive 1 mm X and Y, and 0.1 mm Z, resolution scan of the rails, ties and ballast area at speeds up 60 km/h at 1mm intervals (suitable for high-rail mounting), 120 km/h at 2mm intervals, and 180 km/h at 3mm intervals (suitable for dedicated test cars and autonomous box cars).

The LRAIL’s Artificial Intelligence algorithms automatically measure and detect changes related to gauge, cross level, alignment, spikes, clips, tie plates, joint gap, joint bar bolting, rail surface wear and tie grade.

• Inspection at speeds up to 180 km/h

• Supports narrow, standard and wide gauge measurements

• Simultaneous 3D point cloud and and 2D high-resolution Imaging

• Daytime and night-time operation, immunity to shadows

• Fully automated Artificial Intelligence-based railway inspection:

  • Change detection

  • Wooden tie grading (location, skew angle, crack length, crack depth, crack width, tie grade)

  • Concrete tie grading (location, skew angle, crack length, crack depth, crack width, tie grade)

  • Clip inspection (location, type, loose, missing, damaged, covered)

  • Crossing inspection (location, crossing point detection, wear profiles)

  • Switch inspection (location, toe detection, toe damage, foot detection)

  • Rail open surface damage (chips, cracks)

  • Joint detection and gap measurement

  • Joint bar bolt counting

  • Gauge width, cross-level between rails, alignment

  • Railhead top and side wear (also grooved rail wear)

• Data are automatically location-referenced using mile-point and inertially corrected GPS (x, y and z)

• Compact; sensors weigh only 13 kg each and can be mounted on a high-rail vehicle or a dedicated inspection car

• Rugged components mounted in environmentally-sealed enclosures

• Low-power consumption

• Data compression algorithms to minimize storage requirements

• 28,000 Hz scanning frequency

• 60 km/h at 1mm intervals, 120 km/h at 2mm intervals and 180 km/h at 3mm intervals

• 1 mm transverse resolution

• 0.1 mm vertical resolution

• 0.25 mm vertical accuracy