Broken joints and rails are the leading factor of track caused derailments.
ENSCO’s patented Joint Bar Imaging System (JBIS) employs patented vision inspection technology and methods to perform a detailed inspection of joint bars (fish plates) and rails using high-speed cameras. The JBIS provides an in-depth visual assessment of joints and rails, ensuring that cracks and defective conditions do not lead to a derailment or further failure. The JBIS, developed in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Office of Research and Development, increases inspection efficiency by reducing labor costs associated with traditional joint bar evaluation methods.
The JBIS performs automated crack detection on joint bars (fish plates) and rails. It also detects missing bolts according to business logic, measure rail gap, and deliver joint bar inventory reports. The system generates real-time exception reports, including continuous line scan images of suspect locations, and automatically inventories all joint bars and cracks in a permanent database.
ENSCO’s JBIS also inspects the web and base of the rail for cracked rail conditions. This is a valuable addition to the Ultrasonic Rail Flaw System (URFS) to provide both a visual and internal assessment of rail flaws.
ENSCO Rail, Inc., ENSCO Rail Australia Pty Ltd, ENSCO Technologies of Brazil LTDA/ENSCO Tecnologias do Brasil LTDA, and KLD Labs, Inc. are wholly owned subsidiaries of ENSCO, Inc. The ENSCO Rail subsidiaries provide the products and services to commercial customers.
