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New adaptable equipment for geometric auscultation of railways and overhead lines

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

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).
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).
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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