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Railway trains and tracks are complicated systems that require  continuous inspection, management, and maintenance. To facilitate the tedious and time-consuming visual inspection process, Advanced Inspection Experts Inc. (AIE) presents a brilliant inspection system based on AI.

Railway industry

Railway industry

Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has  attracted railroad industry managers at  a rapid pace. The growing number of passengers, planning complex route networks, keeping up with tightly scheduled timetables,  and  balancing  passenger and freight traffic,  are big challenges in this industry. These problems arise in large part due to difficulties in the integration of various systems such as signaling, telecom, operation, rolling stock, electrical, information technology, traffic, and infrastructure, as well as  human factors.

Railway trains and tracks are complicated systems that require  continuous inspection, management, and maintenance. The cost and burdens associated with  a derailment incident can be catastrophic for an organization. A meticulous visual inspection of rail tracks is crucial to ensure the safety of railroads. Thus, an inspection of  the tracks is a routine task in the railway industry to ensure a high level of safety, and smooth operation. Since  broken rails are considered the main culprit in  freight-train derailments, they are generally the most inspected parts and most of the inspection times are spent on them to detect defects in welding joints, rail surfaces, switches, crossings, and fastening systems. In addition to rails, tens of thousands of wheels, as well as tens of thousands of miles of track, are expected to be monitored on a daily basis. This constant inspection can be quite tedious for staff. Even employing cameras for visual inspection, still puts the burden of  evaluating  images on the operators, and leaves room for human error. To facilitate the tedious and time-consuming visual inspection process, Advanced Inspection Experts Inc. (AIE) presents a brilliant inspection system based on AI. AIE’s solution cuts down the probability of derailments and greatly reduces the operator’s workload. Our AI-powered system not only automates the processes, but also helps to extraordinarily  enhance the efficiency, flexibility, and safety of railroad operations. We give the railway companies the opportunity for a high-speed, real-time inspection of train wheels and tracks. Our facilities can detect all wheel cracks, rail splits, missing bolts, etc., which are the most challenging issues  railway companies have to deal with.

How does AI-assisted visual inspection work?

Our software rapidly photographs the railway and wheels using on-location cameras and drones and processes the images with our state-of-the-art AI-assisted algorithm. At this stage, our system provides an instant evaluation of key assets on the move. As soon as a defect is discovered,  the software alerts  technicians to fix or replace the damaged parts.   

What are other applications of AI-powered inspection in the railway industry?

 There are many more  use cases  for our AI-powered system in the railroad industry. Some of these applications are listed below:

Enhancing the Automation of Train Operation (ATO):

An AI-powered system can improve the efficacy of organizational systems, operations, manufacturing, and maintenance for rail operators and infrastructure managers. Consequently, it can greatly considerably reduce maintenance costs, and enhance competitiveness. Automation of train operation (ATO) is the most critical technology  to be considered by AI-powered systems. ATO transfers the responsibility of overseeing operations from the driver to the train control system, with varying autonomy. By training the AI model  using the data gathered  by sensors positioned on trains or infrastructure components at critical  times, the machine can automatically recommend actions for safety and maintenance. According to some academic reports, AI-based predictive maintenance can reduce  train switch incidents by 30%.

Organizational System

AI-powered organizational systems can simultaneously accomplish multiple tasks, and complete them with better accuracy compared to  humans, which results in shifting technology’s position from enabler to advisor. Some of these applications include:

  • Train Scheduling: Train schedules can be automated using algorithms, simulation models, graphs, heuristics, and control systems.

 

  • Train speed controlling: An AI-based conflict resolution system facilitates hard signaling. Furthermore, it can communicate with train speed management. By applying Reinforcement Learning (RL) or dynamic programming, the goal can be reached.!

 

  • Foreseeing and reducing delays: Downstream conflicts with other trains, priorities, freight loads, and irregular stopping times may result in delays. AI-powered control systems can predict train delays, which helps the operators manage them.

 

  • Prognostic maintenance: To reduce maintenance costs for railway companies and machine failure rates, our AI-assisted software helps the operators quickly respond to the existing concerns and predict any potential catastrophes before they happen. This ability can highly improve customer satisfaction.

 

Prognostic maintenance

 

  • Data Management: Many protocols and regulations are put in place by the railway companies resulting  in a huge amount of data. Processing and proving this  much  data by human operators can be boring, time-consuming, and costly. Cloud-based AI systems can deal with the digital collection of  data, providing ongoing accessibility.

 

  • Biometrics: Biometric ticketing includes retina scans, voice verification, vein scans, facial recognition, and fingerprint scans. Using these features can extensively solve overcrowding issues at train stations, eliminating  ticket barriers and rush-hour queues.

 

  • Network security: Any abnormal behavior or potential threat can be automatically detected using security cameras supplied by our AI-assisted system. This system utilizes unsupervised learning to provide  network security.