New adaptable equipment for geometric auscultation of railways and overhead lines

Project Information

tCat WorkStation

Grant agreement ID: 696979

DOI

10.3030/696979

Project closed

EC signature date 16 September 2015

Start date 1 October 2015

End date 31 March 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

TELEFONOS LINEAS Y CENTRALES SA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - tCat WorkStation (New adaptable equipment for geometric auscultation of railways and overhead lines)

Reporting period: 2015-10-01 to 2016-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This action is focused on the feasibility study associated to the development and commercialization of the tCat Workstation, a multi-gauge workstation that can accurately measure track and overhead line geometric parameters in an extremely cost-efficient way. If successfully developed, this workstation will represent a breakthrough in the geometric auscultation works; achieving accuracy, consistent measurements and a timesaving of more than 75% against traditional methods used during visual-walking inspections (It is important remember that it is mandatory to perform one complete inspection of this type at least every 6 months).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the implementation of the project phase I TELICE has performed the following main activities:
- Market study for the following regions: EU, USA, China and Brazil in order to select most appropriate countries for market introduction and later expansion.
- Deep market analysis for the countries prioritised for market introduction phase (Spain, UK, Germany and USA).
- Online questionnaire launched to +100 potential stakeholders and customers in the target countries.
- Analysis of the regulatory and legal framework for the product exploitation in target countries.
- Detailed analysis of competitors and available solutions.
- Development of the innovation roadmap for the introduction of key technical improvements in the existing prototype.
- Validation of the IPR strategy that was already defined and executed by TELICE (Patent request already made).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

A deep analysis of the background, current scenario and future trends has concluded that the socio-economic potential associated to tCat for saving costs related to OPEX in the railway sector is huge representing a very important opportunity both for TELICE and railway infrastructure operators.

The main ways in which tCat will provoke socio-economic impact are:
- Savings in infrastructure maintenance: Cost per km is reduced by x6 contributing to an overall reduction of over €1bn in the EU.
- Security in rail transport: By allowing for the first time the immediate identification of irregularities during the inspection itself and therefore allowing immediate remedial actions.
- Finally, tCat will also critically contribute to TELICE in terms of business and employment creation. Thanks to tCat the accumulated company turnover by 2024 will increase by 18M€ and 48 new jobs will be created.

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