Rail integrity control system with closed loop approach

Abstract

Rail systems have been used for transportation and carriage purposes since the beginning of the 19th century and are still an important means of transportation today. This transportation method is actively used in densely populated Asian countries, especially in America and European countries. According to data from the National Safety Council (NSC) in the United States, rail travel is indeed one of the safest modes of transportation, second only to air travel. NSC reported that in 2019 rail fatality rates were 0.31 deaths per billion passenger miles, while the death rate for air travel was only 0.061 deaths per billion passenger miles. However, this does not mean that serious accidents do not occur. Moreover, the cause of the majority of these accidents is derailment caused by line deterioration and breaking of rails. According to technical data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in 2020 there were 1,601 accidents caused by track issues, including rail cracks and deterioration. These statistics highlight the importance of regular road maintenance and inspection to ensure the integrity of the railway and prevent accidents caused by road problems. To date, many studies have been carried out to control and ensure the integrity of the rails. In our study, the main aim is to provide a system that will verify that there is no crack in the rails, and otherwise inform the machinist. Furthermore, this study does this verification by dividing the rail structure into small blocks and checking whether the circuit is completed with the electric current it provides over the train. Thanks to this easy-to-apply system, the deformations on the rails can be easily detected pointwise and the number of fatal accidents can be reduced.