Wireless sensors to keep high-speed rail fleet on the tracks
Fleet availability for Great Western Railway’s high-speed trains will be boosted with the installation of Hitachi Rail’s ‘Perpetuum Onboard’ wireless technology to monitor wheels and bogies.
For the first time, wireless sensors are being attached to live monitor the entire wheelsets and bogies of GWR’s high-speed fleet, allowing real-time data of gearboxes, traction motors, bearings and wheels.
At present, bogie overhaul accounts for about a third of maintenance costs, with trains requiring an average of seven days to carry out manual inspection or component replacement in a depot.
According to Hitachi Rail, digital monitoring of bogies and wheelsets can replace periodic inspections, reducing bogie overhaul downtime by up to 50 per cent. On the GWR fleet of 93 trains, this will deliver over 100 extra days of train availability every year. Across the lifetime of the fleet, this is expected to deliver in excess of 3,100 days of train availability. The sensors also have the additional capability of monitoring the condition of the track and train axles.
Improved data and knowledge of critical components optimises maintenance to ensure train availability remains high as the fleet matures.
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