Railways are usually considered to be a fast and safe method of transportation. Passengers get onboard railcars and travel on a series of tracks to get to their destination.
This concept might seem simple enough to a novice, but railway infrastructure requires a lot of maintenance and attention to keep everybody safe.
Think about the age of all the railway tracks and trains. Most of them are anywhere from 20 to 60 years old.
Sometimes the tracks are even older in the rural areas of the countryside. If the slightest amount of damage or wear exists on the tracks or train, it could result in a severe accident.
To properly manage an Australian railway, you need to educate yourself on the best ways to make railways safe and secure for all train passengers.
Below are the top 6 ways to make railways safer.
Table of Contents
1) Railway Track Inspection
A railway track inspection is by far the most important way to make railways safer. But it does not have to be a bunch of rail workers walking around and inspecting the tracks manually.
Now there is new railway inspection technology that simplifies the inspection process. Corridor is an innovative railway technology that can automatically monitor railway infrastructure.
It gathers rail intelligence data and sends it to a cloud-based server. The administrator can view the inspection’s analytical data to learn more about the infrastructure’s current condition.
The technology consists of small hardware systems that get installed on in-service trains.
These systems contain GPS, sensors, and other imaging technology to detect the tracks’ condition as trains travel on them. All this data is sent to the administrator for further examination.
2) Drones
Drones are the newest technology used to check the condition of rail infrastructure. Since rail tracks can exist in some hard to reach areas, such as cliff sides and bridges, it is much safer to utilize drones for conducting these inspections.
Workers no longer must be harnessed high above the ground while putting their lives in danger.
Instead, they can fly drones over to these areas and take high-resolution pictures and videos of them without putting anyone in danger.
3) Positive Train Control Technology
Human error can cause train accidents too. Train engineers are not perfect, and it is always possible that they made a technological or mechanical mistake somewhere along the line.
Positive Train Control technology is designed to detect human errors that could cause a railway accident.
Once the error is detected, the train is stopped automatically by the system. Thousands of parts and components make up this system.
They can detect the location, speed, and direction of any train. If a problem is detected, it will send a warning indicator to the operator of the train. If the operator does not stop the train, the system will stop it for them.
4) Railcar Wheel Monitoring
Railcars consist of several rotating wheels as they move along the tracks. The wheels must be in excellent condition to ensure the railcars move smoothly and safely.
That is why more investments are being made into railcar wheel monitoring technology. Rail operators use a combination of laser technology, infrared technology, and acoustic monitoring technology to monitor the condition of railcar wheels.
If irregularities are detected in any of the wheels, the operator will be notified. Then those wheels can be repaired or replaced before the abnormalities turn more severe.
5) Unified Trainsets
Regular trains consist of separate railcars that are coupled together. When someone wants to pass from one railcar to the next, they must go outside in between the railcars.
This is dangerous because of the noise, rough tracks, and tripping hazards within these gaps. Unified trainsets eliminate this danger.
They close the gaps between railcars so that passengers stay inside the entire time. There is virtually no chance of anyone falling or slipping between railcars if you have unified trainsets.
6) Locomotive Simulator Training
All train engineers should be trained with a locomotive simulator. It is a way to safely train the
engineers without putting them at risk in real-time.
The engineers will get to experience the Positive Train Control technology and learn all the handling procedures associated with it.