Railway Track & Structures - November 2007 - (Page 32)

Automated m/w planning Platform, Enterprise Edition, a technology that delivers functionality for user and security management, program portability and scalability, efficient data distribution and opensystems integration. J2EE expands many new capabilities necessary for effective integration with large and geographically distributed characteristics of railway organizations.” Optram Enterprise still supports its flexible architecture where common software components can be deployed on the Web, as distributed application (n-tier architecture) and as a desktop application (client server). These components form Optram building blocks for developing custom Web pages and applications such as single-click Web page “dash boards” for management, simple work-reporting Web pages and in-field inspection or work-reporting applications. “The distributed form enables efficient data flow and user interactivity among large numbers of users and remote users over low bandwidth networks,” he said. “The desktop form allows users who are intermittently disconnected from the network to take and collect information in the field. As enhancements are added to the common software, this flexible architecture means all applications benefit.” Bentley’s next objective is to improve geospatial (GIS) interoperability and add a new Enterprise Resources Planning interface. “Bentley is a leader in GIS and we are working to expand the incorporation of our knowledge and technology into the Optram system,” he noted. “A portion of railway corridor data typically includes geospatial data (data about the location of features such as assets or political boundaries). Optram typically imports this data and calculates a linear corridor location, i.e., Milepole or KM Marker + Offset. Many of our customers are asking us to link (instead of import) to these geospatial sources to simplify connection with new data sources and reduce data maintenance. Combining the railways’ needs for data change management, data security, linking to multiple systems and data formats, and referencing information in geospatial (Lat-Long) and linear (Marker + Offset) coordinate systems, presents problems of considerable complexity. Our Cambridge, England-based team has 32 Railway Track & Structures calculate asset life span at each point along the track. Optram converts the corridor world into bite-size pieces that can be digested by the financial world. ERP turns the bite-size pieces into balance sheets and capital budgets based on actual asset condition along the rail corridor. “Amtrak has some real industry thought leadership in this area,” he noted. “Bentley is eager to evolve the technology with railways and thought leaders. I see this as a means to narrowing the gap between the maintenance-of-way and railway executives and stockholders, and ensuring optimal delivery of transport.” Optram Linear Data Analysis module is a library of analysis, logical, and data alignment functions built specifically to process corridor information such as track measurements, events (such as rail defects, work records) and asset data. ENSCO “Over this past year, ENSCO’s Automated Joint Bar Inspection System has crossed over from a research and development project to a production automated maintenance-of-way tool now used on North American railroads. Developed in a partnership between the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Research and Development and ENSCO, this automated machine vision technology is capable of inspecting joint bars at speeds up to 65 mph. In the spring of 2007, Canadian Pacific Railway introduced the technology on a production track geometry car. Early this fall, ENSCO released the first Joint Bar Inspection service truck and began contract service testing on both the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern and BNSF. Next month, a second ENSCO service truck will be released for production. In addition, Canadian National will be installing a system on a track geometry car. By the close of 2007, there will be five operational systems in North America, including the FRA’s Office of Research and Development system. The Automated Joint Bar Inspection System utilizes high-resolution line scan cameras inspecting joint bars on both sides of the left and right rail. The cameras are triggered at a fixed distance rate of 0.5mm by a signal from an optical encoder (tachometer) mechanically connected to a measuring wheel. A lighting system provides consistent and uniform illumination of track. The cameras capture continuous images as the rail is traversed. An advanced computer algorithm detects the presence of a joint bar within the image. www.rtands.com developed a prototype that integrates Bentley’s Linear Data Management technology, which was developed for the highway industry, with Optram.” Selig continued: “As the world’s demand for train traffic increases, Bentley’s railway customers are looking for step-change improvement in railway corridor performance. Knowing where, when and how much is spent at each point along the track is the key to prioritizing and proactively maintaining a safe, reliable and efficient railway. Connecting EAM and ERP with Optram enables the system to correlate work and finance down to the track network, resulting in a prioritized corridor management. Sharing asset data simplifies data maintenance and improves accuracy, which is critical to an industry where much of the capital value is in the assets. Bentley plans for ERP integration will enable workdriven and financially-driven prioritized corridor infrastructure management.” A link between Optram and ERP enables capital and maintenance work prioritization based on best value, e.g., repair cost, revenue traffic, train speed, and makes possible the calculation of capital value using current corridor assets inventory, condition and rate of deterioration. The link enables financially-prioritized proactive work orders, project cost analysis, and cost projections. Bentley’s patent-pending Linear Data Analysis engine analyzes measured condition, condition deterioration and work influence to November 2007 http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - November 2007 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D Seattle Retrofits Downtown Transit Tunnel Switch Stand, Switch Machines Planning M/W with Modern, High-Tech Tools Products & Literature People Calendar Advertisers Index Sales Representatives Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - November 2007

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