Automated Railway Inspection Prototype with Fastener Displacement Detection

Abstract

At present, India possesses the fourth major railway network in the globe [1]. Despite the outstanding growth of the railway network, it still plagued by several problems that require immediate attention. In most cases, the train accidents occur at railway tracks due to undefined cracks or irregular inspection [2]. The conventional manual inspection is not very efficient. Therefore, our technology proposes automatic system for crack detection as well as missing fastener classification using a Non Destructive Testing (NDT) technique which is a combination of most useful Ultrasonic and Eddy Current testing methods [3]. Whenever, any defect such as cracks, visual gaps or fastener displacement is detected, the in-build Global Positioning System (GPS) module [4] will fetch the coordinates of the location and sends a message to the control section or any of the authorized users via the Global system for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology [5] or Satellite Communication used by Indian railway [6].