Using Instrumented Revenue Vehicles to Inspect Track Integrity and Rolling Stock Performance in a Passenger Network during Peak Times

This paper discusses the use of Instrumented Revenue Vehicles (IRV), developed by Institute of Railway Technology at Monash University, to evaluate track condition and assess the dynamic performance of the rolling stock during peak operating hours in a passenger network in Indonesia between Lamongon and Surabaya. Assessment of track condition and the dynamic responses of the vehicle is crucial in setting safe operating speeds, in the development of economical proactive maintenance plans and maximizing throughput. The track condition and vehicle responses for this study were measured using accelerometers, spring nest displacement sensors and yaw, roll and pitch rate sensors. Sensors were strategically mounted on various locations of the wheelset, bogie and carriage to evaluate track condition, monitor load transmission and measure dynamic response of the in-service vehicle over multiple runs. The acquired data was analyzed and used to develop visual hot spot maps of the track to determine regions of high dynamic response. The acceleration measurements from the unsprung mass were used to evaluate the rail vertical profiles. This evaluation was carried out in frequency domain and the low frequency components were filtered out to remove contributions from long wavelength track features. A web based reporting system was used to provide plots and figures to communicate the results. Results presented demonstrate the ability of the IRV system to assess health conditions of track, identify regions of degradation and quantify the severity of the dynamic response. This project was sponsored by the Australian Indonesian Centre (AIC) and conducted collaboratively by Institute of Railway Technology (IRT), Monash University and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS).