Question: Why has 3DP never expanded into the railway sector?
Every day on the network I control, we have issues with heat on the rail causing the railway track to buckle. As the heat expands, the rail spans press against each other and cause them to curve.
As a result of this process, we have men every single day for at least 6 months of the year traveling on rail work trucks in front of trains, to ensure rail integrity. This process is potentially hazardous, if someone in my role make a mistake, well, a man in a truck would not fare well against a train. It is also a substantial cost to the business, I would estimate millions in salary, wear and tear of equipment, every single day.
We also have personnel twice per week that undertake the same checking process to identify structural rail issues, these inspectors can travel as slow as 4km/h on average.
This week, we have had the line closed in more than 10 different locations as a result of extreme weather making the railway line impassable, one location was not identified and a train has derailed with multiple wagons holding customer bulk now lay on their side in a very difficult to access area.
We have overhead powerlines for electrified trains (around 1,000km of the line), these power lines are susceptible to damage from lightning strikes and falling trees, the concrete poles have also been known to explode during the winter.
Does 3DP have on hand or can they develop a product that undertakes pre-programmed repetitive scanning of assets? The rail I control has around 3000km of track. It would need to scan and report variance/movement in the rail, ideally variance/movement in the formation which hold the rail together and variance/movement of overhead powerlines.
There is huge money in this industry. Millions, and millions of dollars, per network. Australia itself, specifically WA, have multiple networks. Staffing is an issue, so automation with follow up checks if potential issues are identified could be the more efficient and safe answer.
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