Manned and Autonomous Vehicles
Through state-of-the-art engineering, ENSCO designs, builds, operates and delivers world class, turnkey track inspection vehicles and systems that monitor comprehensive performance indicators reflecting track quality and safety. ENSCO is the industry’s leader in delivering inspection cars and technology around the world.
Location Determination and Synchronization
ENSCO is the industry’s leader in our inspection vehicles’ capability to determine location on the track. ENSCO’s automated track determination software can automatically determine the track and location (milepost, kilometer post, chainage). This capability is key for autonomous operations, but is also useful for manned operations.
This capability is essential for autonomous operations and useful for manned operations. Additionally, ENSCO has the unique capability of integrating multiple systems from ENSCO and other suppliers to be synchronized precisely and is able to be viewed in a synchronized manner based on distance along the track.
Autonomous Operation
Autonomous track inspection is a growing industry practice that has overtaken manned inspection on many railways. Most of ENSCO’s inspection technologies can operate autonomously, without human interaction to operate the inspection systems. The advantage of autonomous inspection is reduced costs, increased survey intervals, and creates a safer working environment.
Various vehicle types can be used in autonomous inspection platforms, such as locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, and custom fabricated vehicles.
Manned Operation
Manned operation is the traditional method used for automated track inspection. Manned operation still has many applications in today’s railway industry, and ENSCO’s technologies are well equipped to meet the need.
The most common manned vehicle types are shown below.
Self-propelled Vehicles
Through its relationships with track maintenance machinery manufacturers, ENSCO has designed a variety of self-propelled rail vehicles from small 20-ton class converted work crew carriers to custom 100-ton high-speed rail cars that serve as track inspection platforms.
Towed Coaches
As railroad traffic density increases, it becomes difficult to find adequate time for both track inspection and maintenance. On high-speed rail lines, the challenge is even greater. Towed coaches provide cost-effective solutions to railroad track inspection needs. Whether implemented in revenue trains or behind dedicated locomotives, towed coaches can be configured for high-speed and long-haul track inspection operations, improving the capacity of the rail network.
Hi-rail Vehicles
ENSCO maintains long-standing relationships with hi-rail vehicle manufacturers to allow for the design and construction of specialized equipment to meet the customer’s inspection and testing needs. ENSCO’s solutions can be applied to light duty, medium duty, and heavy duty trucks to address a full range of inspection and operational requirements.