Rangecam Track Analyst

Rail Replacement Planning

Track Analyst removes the drudgery and guesswork from rail replacement planning.  Wear rates by time or tonnage are automatically calculated from rail wear data.  The software determines when the railroad’s changeout criteria will be met for each curve.  The multi-year replacement forecast is shown visually, along with the supporting rail wear data, making results easy to verify.  Any available data channels can be included, including rail flaws.  The plan can be changed right on the chart through a drag-and-drop interface.  The final plan is exported to a spreadsheet or printed as a tabular report.

Automated rail replacement planning ensures that rail replacement is done when the rail meets its condemning limits, not too early and not too late. 

Tie Planning

Track Analyst takes the subjectivity out of tie planning and helps ensure that maintenance dollars are spent where they are most needed.  The Tie Planning Budget query and report identifies bad ties from GRMS data.   You specify a work plan, either to replace a percentage of bad ties or to bust bad tie clusters over a given size, working by mile, by curve, or by individual cluster.  You enter the tie and installation costs. You can also choose to enter a fixed budget, in which case the software automatically prioritizes tie maintenance according to railroad criteria; or you can let the software calculate the budget required. 

Results are shown visually, and can be output to a printable text file or to a spreadsheet.  Tie counts and costs are summarized by curve and for the entire territory.

Curve Performance Analysis

Performance analysis allows you to mine the data and determine causes and cures of high wear rates. The software measures the effect on rail wear rates of engineering changes such as:

• application of friction modifiers

• additional lubricators

• correction of curve elevation

• changes in grinding profile

• a change in train power distribution, e.g. from front-end to distributed power

Rail wear rates before and after application of TOR friction modifiers

Improved wear rates translate directly into savings in rail replacement.  They are also closely correlated with reduced fuel costs.  Performance analysis allows you to measure the economic benefits of engineering changes and compare them to costs.  It is the key to optimizing track performance.

Works With Other Products

Track Analyst is fully integrated with IMI’s add-on Rangecam products, Grind Analyst for rail grinding planning and QA, and Wheel Analyst for wheel profile analysis, wear trending, and truing.

Enterprise Scalability

Track Analyst’s data is managed by industry-standard DBMS tools, ranging from MS Access for the desktop to Oracle or MS SQL Server for the large enterprise.  Database sizes range from the capacity of a CD to the terabytes of track test data collected by Class 1 railroads.  The database design is relational, and fully open.

Additional Features

Track Analyst also contains all the features of IM’s Track View, including GPS-derived route and satellite/terrain mapping, track condition charts, rail profile display and queries, geometry queries, and a full complement of menu-driven reports.

Click here for a Rangecam Track Analyst brochure!