Digital Data in Track, Infrastructure and Rollingstock Compliance, A Perspective

For new rollingstock and train control projects, as well as for routine infrastructure maintenance, accurate digital data can support a shift away from manual compliance methods towards an automated, fully auditable approach.

This year, Agonics has demonstrated to a major Australian railway operator that datasets recorded at scale could be processed to produce standardised measurement reports on rail track and infrastructure across a number of different asset classes. The project formed the basis for a business case approval to move from manual inspections to automated, LiDAR based reports, thus setting the scene for safer and more cost-effective inspections.

Agonics has been at the forefront in Australia in the digitisation of rail networks and our team has digitised over 16,000 km of domestic network to date. The downstream uses of this data are manifold and have included refreshes to network asset inventories, the automation of measurement reports on track and infrastructure, kinematic clearance analyses and nose cone design support for new rollingstock, level crossing sighting distance investigations, and dilapidation surveys for pre-construction works; the list is only growing as traditional work methods come under increasing scrutiny for their cost and resource intensiveness.

It is our view that changes in work practises in rail are accelerating as the industry increases its reliance on digital datasets that accuracy describe the network in its current state.

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