Calgary Transit upcycles retired car into inspection vehicle

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
image description

Calgary Transit has transformed one of its retired CTrain cars into an inspection vehicle to gather information on the system's rails, tracks and overhead cables.

Calgary Transit says the new inspection vehicle, which it named Scout, will help it improve system reliability and safety by eliminating some of the visual and mechanical inspections performed by staff and helping to optimize preventative maintenance.

Scout’s nine cameras collect data and measure track geometry, rail wear and overhead cable wear.

In a post online describing the benefits of Scout, Calgary Transit wrote, “Some manual inspections can only be done at night when CTrains are not in service, but Scout can travel along the tracks between passenger trains any time of the day and collect valuable information. Also, Scout is able to find defects that can’t be found in manual inspections simply because Scout measures while moving along the system, so the weight and movement of the vehicle provide more accurate measurements of rail wear and track geometry.”

Tags: