March 27, 2012
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VICKSBURG, Miss. – ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) researchers are leading the Army Railroad Inspection Program into the future through the development of the Electronic Railroad Inspection Database System (ERIDS). The system, which will be completely digital, will show updated information on the status of the Army’s railroads.
“The U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM) has been an ERDC customer for nearly 10 years,” said Chad Gartrell, ERDC’s IMCOM Railroad Program manager and a research civil engineer in the Airfields and Pavements Branch. “We have always been involved in infrastructure management and the inspection of railroads, bridges, dams, airfields and ports – now we’re going electronic.”
The Army is responsible for 1,500 miles of railroad on 64 installations in countries across the world, including the United States, Germany, Italy and South Korea. The railroads are vital to many of the installations, responsible for bringing in fuel, coal, raw materials and equipment and moving out weapons and equipment. ERDC performs visual and ultra-sonic inspections on the rails and provides a full inspection report 60-90 days later.
“By going with ERIDS, we’re hoping to capture more information, including GIS, while doing away with written reports all together,” said Gartrell. “We’re also hoping to develop an interactive user environment.”
Currently, inspections involve using paper to record inspection data and defects, with track distances measured using a rolling measuring wheel. The data are then manually entered into the RAILER database system. ERDC analyzes that information and generates color-coded maps depicting rails that are good to ride on, those that have restrictions and those that are impassable. While it gets the job done, the overall method is slow and labor-intensive. The method has also led to the loss of important data and inaccuracies of defect locations.
“The ERDC partnered with Geographic Information Services Inc. (GIS Inc.) to develop a system that would allow for electronic data collection, along with mapping the tracks and defects in a GPS-based system,” said Jeremy Beasley, a GIS and civil engineering technician in GSL. “We selected the Trimble GeoXH, the best option for hardware in this situation, thanks to attributes such as its external antenna, built-in camera and Bluetooth capabilities.”
ERDC and GIS Inc., meet bi-weekly to discuss progression and ideas for the project. When completed, the ERIDS will produce information and final products that are compatible with the Army’s “Army Mapper” database system, which depicts installation assets. The system will reduce data collection times and improve manpower efficiency. It will also reduce time and costs to generate inspection reports and maps, while ensuring data integrity and improving visualization.
“The track inspector will use ERIDS with a range pole and an external antenna while walking the tracks,” said Beasley. “The inspector will log a problem by pressing the defect button on the GeoXH screen, which pauses GPS logging and geotags the location while guiding the inspector through the correct identification of the problem. A geotagged picture will be taken, and then the inspector will press resume and continue walking the track. Once the inspection is complete, the data will be exported and used to create reports and maps.”