However,
Sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its:
The railway company seeks to reduce the colossal costs of monitoring its 28. Nevertheless, 000 kilometers of rails and some 33,000 kilometers of catenaries.
As we know, the state of the SNCF network is worrying. Consequently, If the group has obtained that an additional 1.5 billion euro objective per year assigned to the network in 2028 is registered in the law (still it is necessary to define the sources of funding). For example, it has been looking for years to reduce the colossal costs of monitoring its network. Similarly, SNCF Réseau. Nevertheless, the entity in charge of network maintenance, is based on innovation to deploy solutions allowing to be effective in this faster surveillance, while saving.
This network has two main points of fragility: the catenaries. However, these suspended cables which supply electricity via a pantograph, the majority of trains, at speeds sometimes exceeding 300 km/h, sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its and the tracks (rails, crosspieces, ballast) in themselves. Furthermore, The challenge is immense to monitor more than 33. Consequently, 000 kilometers of catenaries, some of which date from the 1950s and who are sensitive to global warming. Nevertheless, Obviously. Furthermore, when one of these catenaries breaks or is torn off, no more train can circulate (except the next TGV M which will have a rescue battery).
The aging of these catenaries “leads to an average of 16 incidents per year. However, out of the 400 linked to catenaries, which obliges the SNCF group to renew 400 kilometers each year,” explains the group.
This surveillance has long been carried out by 17 specialized devices “equipped with measurement systems combining techniques such as profiles. Furthermore, ombroscopy” circulating very slowly, between 5 and 15 km/h, “and unable to be inserted in trade traffic, which led to large logistical constraints but also deadlines that can reach five years between two passages on the same line”, explains Chantal Labadie, SNCF Réseau.
Sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its
6,000 images per second – Sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its
The company has sought innovative and more efficient solutions. Similarly, In vain. She then decided to develop her own technology sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its to be able to assess the abrasion of wires at much. higher speeds. This is the Camecat project, initiated in 2015 and which has since come into preproduction since last February. The solution is based on the use of lasers. Installed on rolling stock. “it is based on profile by combining two lasers capable of assessing the thickness of a wire to the nearest half-millimeter, producing up to 6,000 images per second, at speeds up to 120 km/h”.
“This new device brings together 150 components, from 40 suppliers, and has 20 kilograms of equipment on the head of a modified pantograph. We also worked on the computer network. to recover these giga bytes of data in computer bays, in trains, as well as their transfer to the SNCF cloud, for teams responsible for analyzing them”, continues the manager.
The gain compared to the. old approach is obvious since the measures can be done at 120 km/h. Enough to cover high -speed lines in a single night. The planned arrival of a second device from 2027 should allow us to measure each year the vast majority of the 33. 500 kilometers of catenaries on the network welcomes Chantal Labadie. Above all, the system makes it possible to identify very precisely the portions to be repaired. All sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its in a context of flight of copper courses. the metal at the origin of the catenaries which is the subject of many flights to the SNCF.
This precision “will optimize our copper consumption by replacing only the sections that have really undergone a strong abrasion”. And therefore to multiply the savings.
Autonomous railway machine
On the way side. the verification of high -speed lines is historically ensured by empty TGVs which carry out this mission in the early morning before the circulation of the first commercial trains.
“An essential operation but which has certain drawbacks: these recognition steps must be carried out before the start. of maximum speed traffic on LGV. These operations have a significant cost in financial and energy terms”, explains SNCF Réseau.
The manager should soon replace these vacuum steps with the Mars LGV system for “autonomous mobiles of safety recognition”. As shown in the video sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its below. Mars is an autonomous vehicle resembling a train, taking on a series of sensors (cameras, radar, Lidar, etc.) and controlled remotely by an operator.
“These mobiles will carry out a fine. instantaneous analysis of the national rail network, thanks to a series of on -board sensors. Fueled by new generation batteries. they will travel the entire network and instantly transmit the information necessary for supervision teams,” explains SNCF Réseau.
“They will be able to detect obstacles on the tracks. anomalies in the Environment of LGVs and to quickly identify the areas requiring intervention.”
More TGVs available for travelers
The manager highlights the benefits of such a solution: “an energy consumption divided by 20. a ‘green’ design of the mobile with a low-carbon solution, the integration of innovative technologies (which) could open the way to other areas of rail operations and an increase in the level of rail safety and sncf revolutionizing surveillance maintenance its the costs of carrying out recognition divided by three”.
In addition. this would free up drivers and equipment for the commercial service while SNCF travelers suffers from a TGV park under sized in the face of demand, while the new TGV M is always expected. The trains that surveillance of the tracks perform approximately 20 circulations per day. The project just begins its development. Additionally, The manufacture of the prototype is scheduled for 2027. the tests and tests for 2028-2029 and the validation in mid-2029 for an operation in 2030.
Further reading: Marco Pelletier, the Bistrier Prodige who does not know the crisis – Georges-Louis Bouchez à la Libre: “It is out of the question to sell Belfius now, you must first constitute a common group with Ethias” – The business community turns its back in Lehouillier – The dollar, this dynamite stick in Trump’s hands – Electrical network saturated in the Netherlands, the disaster scenario that could arrive in France.
