Research Project: Condition Monitoring of Track Environment (ZuG)

Due to the upward tendency towards rail transport automation, there are numerous sensors installed on rail vehicles including video cameras. These may not only be used for obstacle detection on the track but also for monitoring of the track surroundings. Within the research project Condition Monitoring of Track Surroundings, a technology is developed to gain additional information about the condition of the rail infrastructure from video data along the railway route, which is recorded during regular operation. It enables to identify deviations of objects in the track surrounding, which are analysed and classified. Based on this, necessary maintenance actions are automatically generated. This allows for an easier, more objective, more independent and digital process for track surrounding maintenance planning. Once it is validated, the system can replace the observation and reporting role of the train driver in order to enable the deployment of automatic train operation systems.

> detailed project description (.pdf)