Kyushu Railway has developed a new inspection train, called Big Eye, which features headlights that resemble a pair of eyeballs, with an aim to streamline maintenance work using digitalized features.
The railway operator will hold test runs starting this month through next March in southwestern Japan before its full-fledged debut to evaluate the equipment’s durability, accuracy of data measurement and system capabilities for data analysis, it said.
While the conventional maintenance relies largely on visual inspection, the Big Eye is equipped with laser sensors and cameras to detect track distortions while utilizing device-collected data, JR Kyushu said.