Successful Installation of Intelligent Turnout Demonstrators

These demonstrators aim to implement a multi-source, multi-purpose intelligent asset management solution for railway infrastructure monitoring. A standard mixed traffic and a high-speed turnout have been equipped with novel monitoring technologies from voestalpine Railway Systems. The monitoring systems focus on tracking the health status of the turnouts, detecting and preventing faults, and assisting ADIF in maintaining the asset performance, availability, efficiency and safety of their infrastructure.

From March 6 to 8, a mixed traffic turnout demonstrator was installed on the Barcelona - Valencia line in Riffa - Tarragona, Catalonia. The prototype, a 60E1-500-1:15 intelligent turnout with a fixed cast manganese crossing from voestalpine Railway Systems JEZ and several integrated sensors, focuses on monitoring track (ballast) degradation and switch rail and crossing degradation. Four multi-sensors have been installed to monitor vibrations in the switch and crossing areas, providing essential data for asset management and maintenance.

^{Installation of monitoring demonstrator in mixed traffic line Barcelona - Valencia}

The installation was completed in two night shifts alongside CEIT, another beneficiary founding member, who installed additional measurement setups and performed laser scans of the demonstrator turnout. These geometry scans will validate the developed degradation models.

After installation, the monitoring system went online, recording each train passage and uploading pre-processed data to a cloud system. Advanced data analysis algorithms evaluate this data, which is then integrated into the zentrak intelligent asset management and monitoring platform.

The figure below shows the track displacements and component accelerations in the switch- and the crossing panel.

^{Signals recorded from the passage of a commuter train. Track displacements in crossing areas yield critical limits.}

Following the mixed traffic installation, ADIF and voestalpine Railway Systems equipped a high-speed turnout in Santa Cruz de la Zarza, Toledo, on the Valencia-Madrid high-speed line with an advanced monitoring system. The 60E1-17000/7000-1:50 turnout supplied by voestalpine Railway Systems JEZ has a length of 180 m and 14 setting levels. From March 18 to 22, the team installed more than 30 sensors to monitor various usage cases and damage patterns, including swing nose-, switch device-, detector rod-, track degradation and crack detection.

^{Installation of monitoring demonstrator in the high-speed line Valencia Madrid}

Once the power supply was in place, the data collection process was under way. The next steps include in-depth data analysis and the development of approaches to fuse multiple data sources, such as rolling stock data, wayside monitoring data, operational and traffic data, and inspection and maintenance data. This will lead to a holistic smart asset management demonstrator , targeting TRL 7, showing a prototype in an operational environment.

ADIF and voestalpine Railway Systems will implement the zentrak infrastructure monitoring as well as the zentrak asset management and maintenance software for the two demonstratiors. This will enable a centralized database that combines all relevant data sources and provides a comprehensive view of the assets.

^{zentrak infrastructure monitoring, asset management and maintenance management platform}