High-speed, high-resolution laser scanners that monitor the clearance envelope of railroad tracks have been available to European and Asian companies for some time. Now, a rail track scanner has been introduced to North America that is designed to capture track geometry and track envelope data in one pass, creating a 3D point cloud. The product claims 3mm accuracy.
“The amount of time required on the track is decreased,” says Brian Daniel, North American regional manager for the Swiss-based Amberg Technologies. Daniels says that with old surveying methods, “one instrument is needed for alignment, another for height, and a third to check gauge and super elevation,” but the company's GRP System FX “does all this in one pass.”