Inter-city train operator LNER is using the Pantograph Damage Assessment System from Transmission Dynamics and One Big Circle’s Automated Intelligent Video Review to monitor overhead electrification equipment and track on the East Coast Main Line and to help Network Rail engineers proactively fix any issues before they can lead to disruption.
A roof-mounted PANDAS was initially fitted to a Class 91 locomotive four years ago, and it is now fitted to four Class 91s and five Hitachi Azuma trainsets. This enables all the 25 kV 50 Hz electrified sections of the East Coast Main Line to be covered every day. Machine learning is used to continuously analyse pantograph and overhead line interactions, providing accurate, up to date information to Network Rail engineers.
LNER reports that in the past 12 months PANDAS has led to the elimination of 19 overhead line defects that may have otherwise gone unseen and could have caused at least four significant issues, typically causing over 1 500 trains to be more than 3 min late, over 4 000 min of delay and around 50 full or part cancellations per incident.
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