Measuring and control equipment

Tender description

The project will complete the final stages of development of an automated tunnel inspection system using contactless digital image technology. The automated tunnel inspection system uses Lidar and digital images to measure; tunnel shape, crack detection, water ingress, missing bricks and mortar. The original automated tunnel inspection system has been developed into a concept demonstrator to inspect brick lined tunnels. However, the images need to be reviewed by a human and the system does not output reports that can be used by Network Rail IT infrastructure. The system also does not have the ability to detect sub-surface defects. The project is proposed to be split into 2 parallel development streams; 1. Visual inspection, development of machine vision to remove the need for human review of all images and development of outputs to align with an internal Network Rail system. 2. Detail inspection, including Sub-surface measurement techniques and development of the sub surface inspection. This project is required in order to improve accuracy on tunnel examinations and reduce time taken to complete examinations. It will improve the repeatability and reproducibility of data gathering to produce more robust data to support objective business planning and track degradation as per policy targets for sustainability. It will also mitigate the risk of dilution in quality of examinations should constraints on access to the railway increase as utilisation increases. The proposed solution would have to meet Network Rail technical standards at the current time. Network Rail would like to understand whether or not the capability exists within the current marketplace to fulfil the above requirements. Alternatively, indication of the timeframe and effort required in order to meet the requirements in the future. Please email Alex.Jerome@networkrail.co.uk to confirm interest and high level technical outline of proposed solution with timescales. This is not a call for competition at this point in time.