Experimental bases for the rail track surface damage detection system

A diagnosis of rail surface is generally based on the classical method of direct assessment and track geometry measurements. Identification and qualification of inequality and damage on the surface rails is depend on the skills and experience person who conducting inspection. In times of increasing exploitation of railways, infrastructure managers decide to use systems supporting the assessment of technical condition of the railways. In order to improve efficiency of detecting and maintaining uniform assessment criteria developed systems for detecting and monitoring inequalities damage on the surface rails. This article presents the assumption being the basis of the experimental monitoring system dedicated to the Polish railway infrastructure manager. The foundation of the research will be measurement and analysis of the dynamic response of the selected railway vehicle. The functional requirements and the actual research methodology on selected section of the main railwayline have been discussed. The paper presents architecture of measurement subsystem installed on typical type passenger electric locomotive. The implementation of a method for assessing in existing monitoring system has been proposed.