Industry Spotlight: Railway

The freight railway is one of the oldest and most established transport infrastructures in North America and yet it maintains relevancy as its operations continue to expand at rapid rates. Throughout its history, a Class 1 North American Railway has faced challenges related to the complexity of its assets. With 32,500 miles of track and 22 million wheels in operation, cracked rails and damaged wheels require constant inspection, management, and maintenance to prevent possible derailments. Although advancing technology has improved these processes, human subject matter experts are expected to monitor tens of thousands of wheels and miles of track every day -- a solution with complex detection standards that are both tedious and prone to error due to the variability in defects. Cameras attached to the front of over 450 trains capture images along their route that are directly sent to the Cogniac EdgeFlow, where they are effectively evaluated for splits, cracks, or missing bolts.