Stop that train wreck

Friday, March 30, 2001

With bright sunshine and blooming flowers, the first days of spring can bring a smile to the most winter-weary face. But the change of seasons can also spell trouble for industry.

Railroad tracks across the country often sink as the frosted ground beneath them thaws, and later the tracks can buckle under the heat of the summer sun. This can lead to cracked bolt holes and to invisible weak spots in the rails. And when a heavy train comes rumbling through, there's a predictable and sometime tragic result - derailment.

Now researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (www.unl.edu/pr/science.html) and Marshall University (www.marshall.edu) are suggesting a solution-radar. Typically used by boats and airplanes to detect objects in the water or the air, radar has never been used for train safety because it hasn't been able to penetrate the sand and rock laid down in rail beds. But the Nebraska researchers think they've found a way to peer six to ten feet underground by loading the radar on an extra train car. Electronics on the radar car could then call repair crews to fix any problems.

This would be an improvement over current methods, which are sporadic and less accurate: digging bores and trenches, doing visual inspection, or using electronic detectors.