Background and History

Due to the development of the Interstate Highway System, the Railroad Industry was rendered nearly obsolete after more than a century of dominating the overland commercial transportation industry from 1850 to 1958.  

Modeled on Germany's Autobahns, the "Interstates" connected all major American cities with a network of limited access, high-speed roadways. The trucking industry flourished with the post-WII production of modern trucks and cheap diesel fuel. Passenger trains were replaced by comfortable, inexpensive bus transportation. Railroads declined through the 1960s and '70s. Rail freight loads were down as trucks carried the bulk of our cargoes. Railroad tracks fell into disrepair and many were taken up as lines were abandoned due to factory closings as industry evolved. Few railroads could continue to operate without government subsidies; they were just unprofitable.  

Then along came the energy crisis of 1973 and a new social movement-environmentalism. Fuel shortages drove costs ever higher as inefficient truck engines belched black smoke, creating smog-obscured city skylines. New government regulations mandated expensive, new, fuel-efficient engine designs and emissions standards for all motor vehicles. This may have saved the railroads, as new diesel locomotives made trains more efficient than large fleets of trucks for moving freight. Trains once again became an affordable alternative for commuters who lived in the suburbs but worked in the cities.

The nuclear accident at 3-Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979 halted the production of new nuclear power plants. When the OPEC nations imposed a second oil embargo, endless miles of coal trains supplied fuel to conventional power plants across the nation, helping to stabilize energy costs. Then, along with new investment and government subsidies for updating and maintaining tracks, improved locomotive technology and specialty car designs began to return commercial railroading to profitability, at least as a freight carrier. Today, railroading is once again finding favor with the public by reducing highway traffic congestion and lowering overall hydro-carbon emissions. It is also seen as an alternative to the inconveniences of air travel.

Railroad tracks that support exceedingly heavy and dynamic loads are subject to wear, damage, and degradation by exposure to the elements.  

They are also subject to encroachment by vegetation and roadbed erosion where they follow streams or rivers, or after heavy rains, as happened during Hurricane Irene last year.  

Active fault lines in the earth can bend rails, and earthquakes alter their paths. Tracks require continuous active surveillance and maintenance, mostly performed by small crews in rail riding pick-up trucks with bumper-mounted video cameras. Most tracks are surveyed several times a year, at great expense.  

There is a more efficient way to perform some of these tasks.

Railroad Security Considerations  

In this post-9/11 world, transportation services are subject to careful scrutiny, with an entire government administration dedicated to preventing terrorist attacks. Aviation is a priority, with an emphasis on the screening of passengers and their luggage prior to boarding, because aircraft were transformed into guided missiles by terrorists on that day in 2001.  

But as we saw in Spain on March 11, 2004, and in the London Subway bombings on July 7, 2005, trains and their stations make "soft targets" (relatively vulnerable and easy to hit). A small, well-placed, improvised explosive device (IED) on a railroad track will cause a train wreck. Add speed and/or hazardous cargoes in a populated area, and you have a major disaster zone requiring evacuation.  

Railroad trains, properties, rights of way, bridges and trestles are all vulnerable to trespass, theft, vandalism and terrorist assault. They require constant surveillance, performed mainly by a dedicated railroad police force. But their reach is short and mainly involves post-event investigations, inspections, and theft prevention.  

There is a more effective solution for mitigating railroad vulnerability and improving security.

Aerial data acquisition (ADA) procedures, the domestic application of aerial surveillance capabilities and techniques used by the military in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have been revolutionized over the last decade.  

Along with the miniaturization and commercial availability of next generation cameras and imagery processing software technology, these new, advanced capabilities have made aerial surveys easier to perform at dramatically reduced prices for a new group of users and recipients of the imagery. Those users include both private and public (local, state and federal) organizations and entities back here on the American continent.

For utilities and railroad companies, aerial safety inspections can be efficiently performed using full motion video recordings for immediate analysis and future reference. For emergency response, or in case of accidents, aerial damage assessments can be performed and relayed in real time to decision makers for rapid deployment of repair crews.  

A variety of ADA camera options can deliver standard or high definition (SD or HD) video at 30 frames per second. Each frame may be separately analyzed as required.  

Track encroachments, obstructions, and vegetation overgrowth can be identified, along with mile markers, which can be precisely located and identified using embedded GPS coordinates to six decimal places. High resolution (HR) still photographs can provide track details, along with infrared (IR), to identify roadbed disturbances or changes that may pose a security threat.  

This can all be done at high speed from an aircraft operating at a safe altitude, thus cutting survey time and reducing man-hours, freeing personnel for other tasks while reducing labor costs.   

Security   

For high value, hazardous, or security-sensitive cargoes, a RR track security sweep can be performed quickly in advance of, and /or in conjunction with, a train's movements. In the case of any railway accident, collision or derailment, aerial imagery should always be used to document the scene for analysis, discovery of evidence and insurance claims documentation.     

View this video for a sample of video footage showing various aspects of railroad operations throughout New England.

Rail Line Surveying by ASSIST-U.S.