Inspection of Railway Track Facilities using Camcorder and Image Analysis

Abstract

Appropriate maintenance of tracks is vital for the safe operation of railways. Proper managing track facilities is necessary to prevent buckling of rails. Due to social backgrounds of a shortage of workers, a decrease in skilled engineers, and a decrease in passenger income, inspection methods with a low-cost and no need of experience are desired. Therefore, we have developed a method that estimates each image's kilometers, rail gaps, wooden sleeper deterioration, and ballast shape using only inexpensive camcorders. This paper describes the outline of the method and its application results.