This 125mph train is fitted with LASERS.

[vicbury]

An interesting article about Network Rail's New Measurement Train was published by The Register on Monday.

Mobile-friendly version here.

...The train is equipped with a Track Geometry System, laser track scanners, a high resolution video camera on the front complete with frame grabber, Unattended Geometry Measurement System, overhead line inspection systems, and the Plain Line Pattern Recognition (PLPR) system.

There is also a Radio Survey System which checks the coverage for the 950MHz GSM-R system used to communicate between train drivers and central control. Despite GSM-R being 2G and dating back more than a decade (the Ericsson R250S Pro, launched in 2000, was GSM-R compatible), the system only went live on the British rail network this year....

I haven't quoted the text as it goes over multiple pages.

Quite informative for those like me who don't know a lot about the railways.

 

[AM9]

An interesting article about Network Rail's New Measurement Train was published by The Register on Monday.

Mobile-friendly version here.

I haven't quoted the text as it goes over multiple pages.

Quite informative for those like me who don't know a lot about the railways.

Have they only just found out about this train? I seem to remember hearing about the laser track condition kit some time ago, maybe as far back as last year.

 

[rf_ioliver]

Posted a few days ago in Infrastructure and Stations...

 

[rebmcr]

Have they only just found out about this train? I seem to remember hearing about the laser track condition kit some time ago, maybe as far back as last year.

They have only just done an on-board photo tour.

 

[Wyvern]

This 125mph train is fitted with LASERS.

So what?

British Rail has been using lasers for Track and Structures measurement for some fifty years.

 

[cjmillsnun]

So what?

British Rail has been using lasers for Track and Structures measurement for some fifty years.

Considering the first laser was created in a lab in 1960, and the first practical use of them was in 1970 I don't think that's true somehow.

Ultrasonic inspection maybe, but not laser.

 

[Wyvern]

The first lasers were tried out for measuring bridge deflections and also track alignment in around 1965-70

Ultrasound was being tried out at about the same time, also at the same time as it was being developed in hospitals for scans of he womb.

 

[AM9]

They have only just done an on-board photo tour.

I distinctly remember something about it several months ago, probably on TV. Maybe it was a report of the system before it was installed as a production design. Given how laser applications have been progressing, it is not that revolutionary anyway.

 

[Nym]

And so is this 50mph train...
[youtube]6cyIAkvqXIw[/youtube]

 

[rebmcr]

This 125mph train is fitted with LASERS.

So what?

The Register has a long-running gag about embellishing technical details, in parody of trash journalism. Particularly any connection to a hypothetical "sharks with lasers" superweapon.

 

[vicbury]

The Register has a long-running gag about embellishing technical details, in parody of trash journalism. Particularly any connection to a hypothetical "sharks with lasers" superweapon.

I do love The Register!