Summary
SAFETRACK is a project aimed for the railway industry, providing the authorities and infrastructure managers with a unique stand-alone real-time infrastructure monitoring securing the industry with accurate and reliable warning of any anomalies and incidents which occur on the infrastructure.
The SAFETRACK team and NGRT has now completed the first 12 months. NGRT reports that the progress of SAFETRACK has followed the project plan and structure without serious deviations and the need for alterations on either plan or budget. Work has been carried out according to the defined WP’es and with clear focus on deliverables, milestones, and risks. Risks that were identified prior to project start, and new risk(s) as to mention above.
The only deviation which have had some impact on the project plan and budget allocation has been the need for an increased international freight service delivered by DHL
The reasons and addressed needs for the railway industry which SAFETRACK is based upon, has not decreased since NGRT was awarded the Grant. In 2021 more than 200 people have died in various train accidents and derailments around the world.
1. What is the problem/issue being addressed?
The second most common accident type in Europe is due to collisions with obstacles on the track infrastructure. The introduction of automation and smart sensors in railway infrastructure is decades behind other sectors. There is no real-time system to control track conditions or railway infrastructure, even detecting an incoming train at the crossing is still a challenge.
Improving the safety of railways supports EU Green Deal challenges such as climate change risks, sustainability and net zero emissions. Continuous rail monitoring can greatly mitigate the risk of extreme weather events associated to climate change on the infrastructure for the railway industry, which in Europe saves 8.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and which could be even more with better monitoring.
2. Why is it important for society?
Each year numerous incidents and accidents have a huge impact, both financially and socially. Only in the EU, there are annually around 2k accidents with 1k injured and 1k deaths, and alarmingly the number doesn’t decrease year to year. In the US in 2017 there were 11 597 accidents with 8 553 injuries and 864 deaths. EU has estimated the economic impact of tremendous €2.1 billion of loss only due to deaths. Total direct costs related to incidents, accidents and fatalities are estimated to be approx. €2.74 billion per year and is increasing. A 50% of these accidents can be linked to problems with the infrastructure leading to train accidents and could have been avoided if monitoring and data exchange system was introduced.
3. What are the overall objectives?
The overall objectives for the SAFETRACK project is to design, develop, manufacture a real-time railway infrastructure monitoring system based on passive monitoring of rail vibrations to detect and identify problems with the rails (damage, obstacles) and trains (location, wheels) to increase safety and capacity while reducing railway maintenance costs.
The systems incorporates machine learning and improves over time as it is used. SAFETRACK can safely provide comprehensive railway network monitoring, replacing numerous single purpose equipment. Additional benefits include providing data on actual track usage to enable more efficient preventive maintenance of the tracks.
