SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER 75

Monitoring vertical track irregularity

from in-service railway vehicles
P F Weston1, C S Ling1‡, C Roberts1, C J Goodman1
, P Li2§, and R M Goodall2
1
Department of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, UK
2
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK

The manuscript was received on 24 February 2006 and was accepted after revision for publication on 27 June 2006.

DOI: 10.1243/0954409JRRT65

Abstract: Condition monitoring of track geometry from sensors mounted on an in-service

vehicle offers continual monitoring of track geometry that can aid track maintenance strategies.
Mounting and maintaining a full track geometry recording system on an in-service vehicle is an
expensive proposition as the commonly used optical sensors are difficult to keep working in the
dirty railway environment. A simpler and more cost-effective alternative is to estimate track geo-
metry using a small number of robust sensors such as accelerometers and rate gyroscopes, from
which a worthwhile proportion of geometric quality measures and specific irregularities can be
identified. This paper describes the theory and practical results of using a bogie-mounted pitch-
rate gyro to obtain mean vertical alignment, conditional on the secondary vertical damper
geometry. Left and right axlebox-mounted accelerometers can be added to provide short wave-
length irregularity, if required. Results from trials on Tyne and Wear Metro vehicles and on a
Class 175 mainline vehicle demonstrate effective vertical irregularity monitoring, in particular
the ability to monitor vertical irregularity over a wide range of vehicle speeds down to about
1 m s21, where vertically sensing accelerometers combined with displacement transducers
are unable to function correctly.

Keywords: railway, track geometry, condition monitoring

1 INTRODUCTION irregularities associated with dipped joints, wetspots,

Track design geometry is described in terms of verti-
cal and horizontal curvature, superelevation (cant),
and gauge as functions of distance along the track
[1, 2]. The design geometry should be achieved
within tight tolerances during track construction
[3]. The track geometry tends to drift away from the
design geometry with the passage of vehicles.
Defects in the geometry are caused by general differ-
ential track support settlement and local spot


Corresponding author: Department of Electronic, Electrical and
Computer Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston,
Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. email: c.j.goodman@bham.ac.uk
‡
Now at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of
Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK.
§
Now at: Control and Instrumentation Group, Department of
Engineering, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester
LE1 7RH, UK.
wheel burn, corrugation, and so on. Monitoring track
geometry is important for maintaining safe train
operation by identifying geometric irregularities
that need to be corrected.
Dedicated track recording vehicles (TRVs) accu-
rately measure track geometry and provide the
magnitude and locations of exceedences according
to the local line speed to inform track maintenance
[4– 6]. TRVs provide accurate geometry measure-
ments but are expensive to run, both in terms of
operators and keeping the measurement system
working correctly.
Observing track geometry from an in-service
vehicle allows for continual track monitoring so
that both sudden and longer-term changes in track
geometry can be detected. This provides the possi-
bility of timely maintenance intervention, avoiding
the need for more extensive maintenance at a later
date, and allows degradation to be tracked so
future track maintenance can be planned more

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76 P F Weston, C S Ling, C Roberts, C J Goodman, P Li, and R M Goodall
effectively. Any in-service vehicle can be adapted to
become a full-track recording vehicle by adding an
inertial platform from which optical sensors measure
the positions of the rails, thus allowing track geome-
try irregularities to be detected [7]. These systems are
expensive and keeping optical sensors working in the
dirty railway environment is challenging. A simpler,
more robust, and cost effective system for use on
in-service vehicles is desirable.
Vertical track geometry can be measured from an
in-service vehicle using AEAT’s TrackMon system
that uses vertically sensing accelerometers on the
bogie plus vertically sensing displacement transdu-
cers to measure down from the bogie to the left
and right axleboxes [8]. However, displacement
transducers are vulnerable and impede normal
vehicle maintenance operations. Axlebox-mounted
accelerometers have been used experimentally and
are beginning to appear on in-service vehicles [9].
Japanese railways have been experimenting with
observing track from in-service vehicles for some
time, for example using vertically sensing axlebox
accelerometers to observe corrugation, loose slee-
pers, and welds [10]. Techniques for identifying
specific faults, such as dipped or raised joints and
welds, crossings, and short rail head defects from
axlebox accelerations to rail head faults are starting
to appear, with detection of rail corrugation using
Fourier analysis well-established. While axlebox-
mounted accelerometers are useful to monitor
short wavelength left and right rail geometry, they
return reliable information over longer wavelengths
only when operated at moderate to high vehicle
speeds, typically higher than 15 m s21.
Another, less direct, approach to detecting vertical
track irregularity from an in-service vehicle is to use
observations of acceleration at various places on a
vehicle to infer something about the track geometry,
without necessarily intending to reconstruct the
geometry. At its simplest, the intuitive notion that
ride quality (as observed from body-mounted accel-
erometers) is related to track condition can be used
to infer track irregularity. On the Tyne and Wear
Metro system, for example, a portable ride quality
monitor placed in the body of a Metro vehicle
records where the ride quality is poor, from which
poor track geometry is inferred. Comparisons
between runs with the same vehicle are made
under the assumption that roughly the same vehicle
speed profile is repeated for each data collection
run. A system applied to London Underground’s
Central Line vehicles monitors accelerations at
various places on the vehicle to detect anomalous
behaviour [9]. Another more comprehensive
system developed by FRA/Ensco monitors vehicle
body, bogie, and axlebox accelerations to identify
unusual motions and report these automatically to
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a control centre [11, 12]. However, these systems
do not explicitly relate observed accelerations to
track geometry. The authors of reference [13]
attempt to estimate track geometry (vertical, lateral,
crosslevel, and gauge) from only three accelerations
measured within the body of a vehicle, arguing that
placing sensors elsewhere is too troublesome, and in
reference [14] three accelerations and three turning
rates are measured inside a vehicle body to look for
changes in the track. Given the low pass filtering
effect between the wheelsets and bogie, and bogie
to body, obtaining information about shorter
wavelength irregularity from the motion of the
vehicle body seems unlikely to function adequately,
although the long wavelength irregularity may be
well correlated with the body motion.
The main purpose of this paper is to propose the
use of a bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro for detecting
mean vertical track irregularity over a wide range of
vehicle speeds. Using this sensor alone provides a
large amount of useful information such as the stan-
dard deviation (SD) estimates of the mean vertical
alignment, down to a wavelength of around 5 m.
This is illustrated using data collected from trials
on several Metro vehicles and one mainline vehicle.
Axlebox-mounted accelerometers can be added to
provide left and right rail vertical irregularity above
a minimum vehicle speed, avoiding the need for
primary suspension displacement transducers. The
next section describes the theory behind the
choice of observing bogie pitch-rate to observe
mean vertical irregularity, describing the transfer
from speed-dependent pitch-rate into spatial
samples of the vertical curvature of a trajectory
that can be turned into speed-independent mean
vertical geometry. Section 3 describes the way in
which spatial estimates of curvature are obtained
from sensors and how these estimates are further
processed to remove long wavelength drift errors,
and how one can obtain versine estimates directly
from curvature estimates. Section 4 describes results
from trials carried out on Tyne and Wear Metro
vehicles, as part of a larger experiment, and the
results from one trial on a Class 175 vehicle are dis-
cussed in section 5. Concluding remarks are pro-
vided in section 6.
2 SENSORS AND PROCESSING
The relationships between vertical track geometry
and accelerations and turning rate of locations on a
railway vehicle determine what a sensor can observe.
This section describes the factors that affect the
observability of track geometry from potential
vehicle-mounted sensors.
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 Monitoring vertical track irregularity
2.1 Axlebox-mounted accelerometers
The use of axlebox-mounted accelerometers to
measure longitudinal railhead profile is discussed
in reference [15], both in relation to short wavelength
irregularity such as corrugation and long wavelength
irregularity. Acceleration is typically turned into dis-
placement information by double integration of the
signal with respect to time. The double integration
results in the well known effect of not just drift, but
integrated drift, that has to be filtered out by filtering
out long wavelength results. One problem associated
with axlebox accelerometers is that they experience
accelerations as high as 100 g, so the sensor range
has to be high. However, the long wavelength irregu-
larity presents accelerations that are a fraction of 1 g,
so the sensor has to have a low limit on lower band-
width, high linearity, and very low noise to provide
usable long wavelength results. The results are
speed dependent, because the acceleration gener-
ated from the track geometry is proportional to the
square of the vehicle speed, resulting in too low a
signal-to-noise ratio at low vehicle speeds.
Axlebox-mounted accelerometer measurements
inevitably rely on the wheels maintaining contact
with the rails and assume the rolling radius is con-
stant. Any deviation from these conditions will
cause loss of accuracy.
2.2 Bogie-mounted accelerometers
Vertically sensing, bogie-mounted accelerometers
provide information on the vertical motion of the
bogie. This is related to the vertical track geometry
by the bogie wheelbase, the primary suspension,
and the secondary vertical suspension.
Ignoring the primary and secondary suspension
systems, the bogie moves vertically according to
the average of the leading and trailing wheelset
vertical motions. A transfer function between track
vertical geometry and bogie vertical motion can be
obtained. This shows that the vertical bogie motion
is close to the track vertical geometry at wavelengths
well above the bogie wheelbase, the gain falling by
3 dB at a wavelength equal to approximately 10 m
(typically) and then falling rapidly to zero at a wave-
length equal to twice the bogie wheelbase, or about
5 m. Therefore, the vertical motion of the bogie is
not a very good indicator of the vertical track geome-
try at wavelengths much less than 10 m. This is called
geometric filtering because it is caused by the geo-
metry of the bogie.
The primary suspension bogie bounce resonance
is typically around 10 Hz, so at 45 m s21 the wave-
length is 4.5 m. At 10 m s21, the wavelength is 1 m.
Therefore, the wavelength corresponding to the pri-
mary suspension resonance is below that at which
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77
the bogie cannot see the track because of the
geometric filtering. A bogie pitch mode around
12 Hz will also be sensed if the accelerometer is
located away from the centre of gravity. Hence, the pri-
mary suspension resonance is not of great concern
when compared with the geometric filtering effect.
The secondary suspension gives a body resonance
typically around 1 Hz, part of which appears across
the primary suspension. This is a wavelength of 45 m
at a vehicle speed of 45 m s21, which is significant.
While axlebox accelerometers can provide information
down to about 1 Hz, they require a relatively high
vehicle speed to be usable at 45 m wavelengths and
longer. It is for this reason that bogie-mounted accel-
erometers are best placed directly above axleboxes
with a pair of primary displacement transducers
used to measure the relative movements between
axleboxes and accelerometers. With this arrangement,
the bogie bouncing and pitching motions are can-
celled out by the directly measured primary suspen-
sion displacements. The accelerometer on the bogie
is isolated from the high accelerations at the axlebox,
so it can have a smaller range and provide longer
wavelength information with less demands on sensor
linearity and noise, although these still limit the final
accuracy at lower vehicle speeds.
2.3 Bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro
The motion of the pitch of the bogie with respect to
the ‘pitch’ (angle from horizontal) of the track
depends on the bogie wheelbase and on the primary
and secondary vertical suspension systems.
Assuming that the leading and trailing wheelsets
follow the vertical track geometry and that the pri-
mary suspension is infinitely stiff, the bogie pitch is
determined by the vertical positions of the leading
and trailing wheelsets divided by the bogie wheel-
base. The relationship between bogie pitch and
track vertical geometry is given by a geometric filter
(spatial filtering) in which the bogie pitch is blind
(has zero gain) to irregularities at wavelengths equal
to the bogie wheelbase (and one third of the bogie
wheelbase, one fifth, etc.). For wavelengths longer
than 8 m, the bogie pitch follows the mean track
slope fairly accurately (unit gain), the gain falling to
23 dB around 4 m (for a bogie wheelbase of 2.5 m),
and then rapidly falling to zero gain at 2.5 m wave-
lengths. Compared to a bogie-mounted accelerometer,
a bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro is able to observe irre-
gularity wavelengths of half the length. The suspension
system allows the bogie pitch to have additional move-
ment relative to the instantaneous track slope between
the wheelsets on the bogie.
The primary vertical suspension and bogie pitch
inertia combine to allow a bogie pitch resonance,
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part F: J. Rail and Rapid Transit
78 P F Weston, C S Ling, C Roberts, C J Goodman, P Li, and R M Goodall
typically at a frequency of around 12 Hz. This
corresponds to a wavelength of close to 4 m at
45 m s21 (100 mile/h), which is about the same wave-
length as that where the bogie pitch is becoming blind
to the track geometry. At lower vehicle speeds, the
wavelength corresponding to the pitch resonance is
less than 4 m and the geometric filtering is
more important. Note that a pitch-rate gyro does not
see the vertical bounce of the bogie, so it can be
located at any convenient (but rigid) location on the
bogie frame. Any loss of contact between a wheel
and rail does not significantly affect the track geometry
reconstructed from a bogie-mounted rate gyro as
such events are of short duration compared to the
irregularity wavelengths that can be observed from
the bogie.
The secondary suspension configuration deter-
mines the effect of the secondary suspension on the
bogie pitch motion. If the secondary vertical suspen-
sion components are longitudinally symmetric
about the centre-line of the bogie, body bounce
above the bogie does not generate significant bogie
pitch motion. The coupling of body pitch into the
bogie pitch through typical airbags has been found
to be insignificant using a vehicle simulation package.
The secondary suspension is important when second-
ary vertical dampers are located off the bogie longi-
tudinal centre-line, the bogie pitch is most affected
when the dampers are longitudinally asymmetric,
for example where there is one off-centre damper.
This effect has been identified by simulation to be
mostly owing to coupling from body bounce into
bogie pitch. Further investigation is needed in this
case to determine if the effect can be estimated and
removed by measuring the body vertical motion
above the instrumented bogie. Both vehicles used in
trials (sections 4 and 5 below) show insignificant
coupling from body motion into bogie pitch.
2.4 Position estimation
Comparison of vertical track geometry estimates
from different vehicles running over the same track
requires knowledge of the absolute position of the
vehicle. The relative position along the track can be
provided by a tacho signal, with some uncertainty
in the long-term position caused by uncertainty in
the effective wheel radius and inevitable drift pro-
blems from integrating speed to obtain position. In
the Tyne and Wear Metro examples presented
below, the position along the track was found by
comparing the horizontal curvature information
from a bogie-mounted rate gyro to obtain mutual
data alignment within about 10 m, similar to the
method described by Saab [16, 17], with mutual
alignment improved by comparing the vertical
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geometry from the bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro.
This allows mutual alignment to within about 1 m,
which is sufficient for comparisons of mean vertical
alignment. Axlebox accelerometer data, if available,
can provide even closer mutual alignment for com-
parison of spot features such as dipped joints.
Global positioning satellites (GPS) can be combined
with tacho and possibly longitudinal acceleration to
provide positional information, but for the Tyne
and Wear Metro the loss of signal in tunnels and in
cuttings and the presence of unique curvature pat-
terns renders GPS unnecessary.
2.5 Sensor choice
A combination of a pair of vertically sensing acceler-
ometers mounted directly above the axleboxes with
two primary suspension displacement transducers
provides a useful sensor combination for vertical
geometry measurement, as used by AEAT’s TrackMon
system [8]. However, for use over a wider range of
speeds, subject to secondary suspension damping
arrangements, a lone bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro
offers the possibility of monitoring mean vertical geo-
metry down to wavelengths of 5 m at speeds down to
1 ms21, which should be enough for daily geometry
monitoring from an in-service vehicle. Axlebox-
mounted accelerometers can be added to provide
for left and right vertical geometry measurement at
wavelengths less than about 8 m. The next section
describes the processing used on the data collected
from trials on Tyne and Wear Metro vehicles.
3 PROCESSING
Conversion from speed-dependent accelerations
and turning rate into speed-independent track geo-
metry information generally involves integration
with respect to time followed by re-sampling into
the spatial domain. In this paper, however, spatial
domain samples of curvature are obtained from
acceleration or rotation rate, the remaining proces-
sing all being carried out in the spatial domain.
This section describes these processes.
3.1 Curvature route to vertical alignment
An accelerometer mounted on a bogie or axlebox
senses acceleration roughly perpendicular to the tra-
jectory of the sensor through space, see Fig 1. The
sensed acceleration arising from following the
instantaneous curvature of the trajectory is given by
vx2 a
a¼ ¼ vx2 K , K ¼ 2 (1)
R vx
JRRT65 # IMechE 2007
 Monitoring vertical track irregularity
Fig. 1 Trajectory coordinate system (side view)
where a is the (instantaneous) acceleration, R the
radius of curvature, and K the curvature. More
detailed equations are given in Appendix 2. In a
similar way, assuming that the pitch of the bogie is
essentially the same as the angle from horizontal of
the track under the middle of the bogie, one can
obtain an approximate relationship between
trajectory curvature and pitch-rate
vx ḟ
ḟ ¼ ¼ vx K , K ¼
R vx
The estimate of vertical displacement associated with
the curvature is given by double integrating the curva-
ture with respect to displacement along the track
ðð
z^ ¼ K ds ds
In practice, spatial samples of curvature Kk where k
is the sample index, are obtained as described in
Appendix 2, from either acceleration or pitch-rate. In
this paper, these samples of curvature are generated
at the rate of 16 per metre (Ds ¼ 62:5 mm). The curva-
ture samples are nominally independent of vehicle
speed but because of the division by vx (pitch-rate),
or vx2 (acceleration), the mean vehicle speed associated
with each curvature sample contains information
about the uncertainty in that sample that could be
used in subsequent processing to estimate the uncer-
tainty in the processed result. Also, any offset error in
the pitch-rate gyro (accelerometer) signal is divided
by the vehicle speed (squared), injecting a speed pro-
file dependent error into the curvature samples, par-
ticularly into the acceleration-derived curvature at
low vehicle speeds, that propagate through to the
derived quantities.
3.2 High-pass filtered 70 m and 35 m
vertical alignment
The vertical irregularity is obtained by filtering out
wavelengths longer than 70 m (or 35 m, depending
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79
on the class of the track) [4, 18]. This filters out the
long wavelength drift error that arises from twice
integrating curvature to obtain vertical displace-
ment, but requires accurate curvature estimates
right up to 70 m. The 70 m vertical alignment (irregu-
larity) can be obtained from samples of curvature by
applying a fourth-order high-pass Butterworth filter.
The phase shift introduced by such a filter distorts
the reconstructed vertical alignment and should
be removed [6]. Rather than filtering the result of
the double integrated curvature estimates, the
double integration and high-pass filtering (with
zero phase shift) can be combined into a single
filter. Real-time, but delayed, filtered vertical align-
ment information can be obtained by computing a
moving convolution with the impulse response of
this combined filter.
If curvature estimates are available from left and
right axlebox accelerometers, these can be fused
with the curvature estimates from the bogie-
mounted pitch-rate gyro and used to compute the
mean vertical alignment. Fusion can be achieved
by taking 8 m and longer wavelengths from the
(2) pitch-rate gyro-derived vertical alignment and 8 m
and shorter wavelengths from the left and right
axlebox accelerometer-derived vertical alignment
using a complimentary filter. At vehicle speeds
below about 8 m s21 where the axlebox acceler-
ometer data become noisy for wavelengths of 8 m,
the results from the pitch-rate gyro alone can be
(3) used, with some loss of information at wavelengths
below 8 m. In the trials described later, the 35 and
70 m filtered mean vertical irregularity and the sec-
tional standard deviations (SDs) are dominated by
irregularity longer than 8 m, thus using the pitch-
rate gyro alone provides useful vertical alignment
information. The mean vertical irregularity at 70/
35 m can be examined for isolated irregularities
such as voids or cyclic top and also mutually
compared.
3.3 RMS quality
Track geometry quality is often given simply by
computing SDs over 400 m (200 m) sections of
the 70 m (35 m) filtered mean vertical alignment.
Tables of sectional SD values and their distribution
for various line speeds are given in reference [4].
As varying the locations of the section divisions
can result in considerable variation of SDs, the
results in sections 4 and 5 have been computed using
moving sections. This highlights both the best
and worst SDs more clearly and avoids the
requirement to align the data before computing
the SDs.
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3.4 Versines
A versine (mid-chord offset) is the distance

z(s1 ) þ z(s3 ) s1 þ s3
 z(s2 ), s2 ¼ , s1 , s3 (4)
2 2

The impulse response from curvature at distance

along the track s ¼ t results in a versine over chord
length L of
8
> L
>
> 0 s 4t
>
> 2
>
>
>
> L st L
<  t ,s4t
VL (s) ¼ 4 2 2 (5)
>
> L ts L
>
>  t,s ,tþ
>
> 4 2 2
>
> Fig. 2 Tyne and Wear Metro equipment (part)
>
: L
0 tþ 4s
2
provide data for a study of observing lateral track
This impulse response from curvature to versine is a geometry irregularity [19] and for examining suspen-
triangle with base equal to the chord length L and sion and wheel profile fault detection [20– 22].
symmetric about t. The impulse response from dis-
cretized curvature estimates Kk to a versine estimate
has the same triangular shape but at a set of discrete 4.1 Trials
points. Computing a versine over any length requires
Five trials were carried out on three vehicles over a 12
one fewer curvature sample than fall within the
month period, see Table 1. For each trial, two sets of
chord length, always with a triangular impulse
data were collected over 60 km of track. Although the
response. For example, a 1 m versine can be obtained
test vehicle was not in service and did not stop at all
from 15 samples of axlebox acceleration-derived cur-
stations, it was frequently held up at red signals since
vature samples. A sequence of curvature estimates
it was running between in-service vehicles. There-
against displacement along the track can be con-
fore, the running speed is reasonably representative
verted into a moving versine estimate over a given
of that found in an in-service vehicle. Tyne and
chord length by convolving the curvature samples
Wear Metro vehicles have a maximum speed of
with the relevant triangular impulse response. This
about 22 m s21 (50 mile/h, 80 km/h) so the appropri-
can potentially be used to identify dips in the track,
ate upper wavelength of interest for vertical align-
such as voids or wet spots using 8 or 16 m versines,
ment is 35 m.
and, from axlebox accelerometers if present, 1 m
versines to detect dipped joints.
The next section illustrates various results of 4.2 Mean vertical alignment
obtaining mean vertical alignment obtained from a
bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro that formed part of Figure 3 shows the 35 m filtered mean vertical
the instrumentation mounted on a number of Tyne moving 200 m SDs computed from a pitch-rate
and Wear Metro vehicles. gyro, from the (mean of the) vertically sensing accel-
erometers plus displacement transducers, and also

4 TYNE AND WEAR METRO TRIALS

Table 1 Tyne and Wear Metro trials
The mean vertical track profile can be obtained from Trial number Date Comments
a bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro. To test this
1 July 2003 Vehicle 1, basic data
hypothesis, sensors (Appendix 3) were mounted on collection test
the bogie, axleboxes, and within the body of several 2 17 October, 2003 Vehicle 2 with
Tyne and Wear Metro vehicles. Figure 2 shows equip- worn dampers
3 28 November, 2003 Vehicle 2 with
ment mounted on one axlebox and on the bogie new dampers
frame above. Accelerometers on the bogie and dis- 4 27 May, 2004 Vehicle 3 with
placement transducers across the primary suspen- worn wheels
5 9 June, 2004 Vehicle 3 with newly
sion, and other sensors, were fitted to confirm that turned wheels
the collected data were mutually consistent and to

Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part F: J. Rail and Rapid Transit JRRT65 # IMechE 2007
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 Monitoring vertical track irregularity
Fig. 3 35 m mean vertical profile SDs (200 m):
accelerometer-based; gyro-based (2 trials);
speed profile
the vehicle speed profile, using the data collected
during trial 2. Also shown is the pitch-rate gyro
derived result from trial 3. The first observation is
that the bogie-pitch-rate-derived SDs from trials 2
and 3 are almost indistinguishable, in fact on close
inspection the difference is never more than
0.3 mm and is mostly significantly less. Although
trials 2 and 3 have similar speed profiles (not
shown for trial 3), there are places where the speeds
are significantly different but the mean vertical irre-
gularity remains similar. The second observation is
that the accelerometer/displacement transducer-
derived vertical irregularity is very similar to the
pitch-rate gyro-derived irregularity, except at places
where the speed drops to zero (4050 m, 5560 m,
7100 m) and sometimes when the speed drops to
4 m s21 (over a level crossing at 950 m). Closer
inspection shows that the pitch-rate gyro recon-
structed vertical alignment very slightly under-
estimates the SD compared to that obtained from
an accelerometer-displacement transducer combi-
nation. This is attributed to the geometric filter
that contains sharp zeros at wavelengths equal to
integer fractions of the bogie wheelbase (2.1 m,
1.05 m, 0.525 m, etc.) preventing some energy from
reaching the bogie pitch, causing a reduction in the
computed SD. A practical manifestation of this
effect is that the pitch of the bogie takes a slight
short cut towards the bottom of a short dip, resulting
in a slight reduction in observed dip depth. Axlebox
accelerometers, if present, can fill in the missing
detail. In principle, bogie pitch oscillation could
increase the calculated SD values but, in practice, it
does not contribute significantly in the Tyne and
Wear Metro trials.
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81
Fig. 4 35 m mean vertical profile from pitch-rate
gyro and accelerometer plus displacement
transducers: speed drops to zero
The effect of the vehicle speed dropping to zero on
the accelerometer derived compared to the pitch-
rate-derived irregularity is shown in Fig 4. The accel-
erometer-derived result is significantly different
around the point the vehicle comes to a stop. This
is caused by the accelerometer noise and small
offset, when divided by the square of the vehicle
speed, generating a significant error in the vertical
reconstruction. The pitch-rate gyro is divided by
the vehicle speed and also gives an error, but this
error is much smaller than that from the acceler-
ometer. The figure also shows that the pitch-rate
gyro derived result is smoother than the acceler-
ometer/displacement transducer result, and there
are differences in the high frequency content. This
is correct as the pitch-rate gyro smoothes out the
shorter wavelength irregularity and does not see the
shorter wavelength irregularity correctly, although
this does not affect the SDs significantly. Figure 5
shows similar behaviour when the vehicle speed
drops to 4 m s21 as it crosses a level crossing (speed
limit 15 km/h). The accelerometer-derived vertical
irregularity is embedded in noise in the accelerometer
processing chain caused by the low vehicle speed. The
pitch-rate gyro continues to provide mean vertical
irregularity down to a speed of 1 m s21.
Figure 6 shows the pitch-rate gyro derived vertical
alignment (35 m) for four vehicle conditions. The
results show some differences. The largest difference
is in the case of the heavily worn wheels (in the form
of wheel flats rather than a change in wheel profile)
in trial 4, where there is evidence of increased bogie
pitch oscillation. The exact reason for this is
unknown, the wavelength of the pitching is too
long to be associated with the bogie pitch resonance.
It cannot be because of changes in the track vertical
alignment as trial 5 reverts back to a consistent
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part F: J. Rail and Rapid Transit
82 P F Weston, C S Ling, C Roberts, C J Goodman, P Li, and R M Goodall
Fig. 5 35 m mean vertical profile from pitch-rate
gyro and accelerometer plus displacement
transducers; speed remains above 4 m/s
pattern. There is some evidence of a change in the
track at about 945 m – a higher peak is reached in
trials 4 and 5 than in trials 2 and 3. This may be a
genuine change in the track geometry.
4.3 Changes in mean vertical standard
deviation over time
The results from trials 2 and 3 are very similar, which
is not surprising as the only change is replacement of
dampers associated with the lateral movement, and
the track did not change significantly during the
month between the trials. Trials 4 and 5 were carried
out on a different vehicle from trials 2 and 3, and
some 7 to 8 months later. The change between
trials 4 and 5 was that the wheels were turned (and
Fig. 6 35 m mean vertical profile from pitch-rate gyro
during four trials
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2 weeks passed). The mean vertical SDs (35 m, com-
puted over 200 m moving sections) are much the
same for trials 4 and 5, so Fig 7 shows the SDs only
for trials 2 and 5, carried out 8 months apart. The
traces are similar in general, with differences gener-
ally less than 0.5 mm except in a few places, two of
which are indicated as features 1 and 2. Figure 8
shows the 35 m mean vertical reconstruction (from
the bogie pitch-rate gyro) over the region where sig-
nificant changes were found in the SDs. The same
features 1 and 2 are indicated. The video taken at
the same time as the data were collected reveals
that these two features are regions of switch and
crossing work where it appears from the 35 m
mean vertical alignment that some work has been
carried out to improve the vertical alignment.
There are other minor changes in vertical align-
ment, suggesting in one region that some tamping
may have taken place, although this is not known.
In any case, by comparing the results from the
pitch-rate gyro and the accelerometer and displace-
ment transducer combinations, it is known that the
changes in vertical alignment are credible. Therefore,
changes in the mean vertical profile over time have
been detected. In this example, the changes are pre-
sent both in the computed SDs and in the recon-
structed mean vertical profile. Direct comparison of
the mean vertical profile, or of 8 and 16 m versines
should be more sensitive to spot changes in vertical
alignment as might be found around a developing
wet (slurry) spot where the effect on the SD is quite
subtle.
The Tyne and Wear Metro vehicle has very stiff
primary suspension so using the bogie pitch-rate to
compute mean vertical alignment may not be appli-
cable to more conventional suspension designs
found on mainline vehicles.
Fig. 7 35 m mean vertical SDs (200 m), Tyne and Wear
trials 2 and 5
JRRT65 # IMechE 2007
 Monitoring vertical track irregularity
Fig. 8 35 m mean vertical profile: trials 2 and 5
5 CLASS 175 TRIAL
One trial was carried out on a Class 175 mainline
vehicle to try to demonstrate that the pitch-rate gyro
gives useful results for a more conventional suspen-
sion system than that found on the Tyne and Wear
Metro vehicle, and also to check operation at higher
vehicle speeds. Some information about the trial is
given, followed by comparisons of 70 and 35 m SDs
obtained from the test vehicle, from a TRV (but 16
months earlier), and from a Vampire simulation
using the TRV track data as input to a validated
model of a Class 175 vehicle. Finally, the 70 m mean
vertical alignment reconstruction from the pitch-rate
gyro on the test vehicle and from the TRV track data
are directly compared in one region where the SDs
are similar, and in another where they are different.
5.1 Trial
The one trial carried out on a Class 175 vehicle took
place over some 140 km of track. The sensors from
which data were collected are listed in Appendix
3. Note that axlebox-mounted accelerometers and
displacement transducers were not fitted – most
sensors were located within a box clamped (and
strapped for additional safety) to a beam within
the bogie frame. Additional sensors were located
in the vehicle body above the instrumented bogie.
The only sensor used in the following results is the
pitch-rate gyro. Data are available from a track
recording vehicle that passed over the same track,
but 16 months before the trial. This is not ideal for
comparing results, but it is all that was available.
5.2 Comparison of 70 m SDs
The 70 m SDs, computed using a 400 m moving
section, are shown in Fig 9. The SDs were computed
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83
Fig. 9 70 m mean vertical profile SDs (400 m) SD: class
175 trial; TRV-derived (16 months earlier); from
simulation
from the pitch-rate gyro used in the trial, from the
track recording vehicle results, and also from a vir-
tual pitch-rate gyro mounted on a vehicle in simu-
lation. The TRV measured track geometry was used
to drive the model (which is an accurate model of a
Class 175 vehicle provided by AEAT/Alstom). The
pitch-rate gyro in simulation predicts almost exactly
the correct 70 m SDs for the given track input. This
gives some confidence that the differences observed
in the 70 m SDs between the TRV results and the trial
results are because of changing track geometry
rather than any failure of the pitch-rate gyro to pick
up the correct results. The trial result is not in as
good agreement as for the 35 m SDs (below), but
there may be a difference in the 70 m filtering oper-
ation that had already been applied to the TRV verti-
cal alignment data and the 70 m filtering applied to
the trial data. A small difference in the filtering oper-
ation, for example using a different order for the
filter, results in a change in the exact 70 m SDs.
5.3 Comparison of 35 m SDs
The filtering for the 35 m SD comparison is under
better control as the TRV vertical alignment for
35 m was obtained by filtering the 70 m result using
the same filter as was used to generate the pitch-
rate gyro-derived result, and as was applied to the
simulation result. Figure 10 shows the 35 m moving
200 m SDs computed from a TRV (16 months earlier);
from the trial; and from a Vampire simulated virtual
pitch-rate gyro. The simulation predicts that the
pitch-rate gyro can correctly identify the 35 m SDs,
showing a slight increase in SD for the higher SD
values. The comparison of the trial results show
regions of good agreement, for example from 6 to
8.5 km and from 9.5 km to 14 km, among others.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part F: J. Rail and Rapid Transit
84 P F Weston, C S Ling, C Roberts, C J Goodman, P Li, and R M Goodall

Fig. 10 35 m mean vertical profile SDs (200 m): class Fig. 11 Pitch-rate gyro-derived mean 70 m vertical
175 trial; TRV-derived (16 months earlier); profile and TRV result from 16 months
from simulation earlier: large differences

There are also regions of considerable change, for 6 CONCLUSIONS

example from 14.5 km to 20 km. These regions are
similar to the regions for the 70 m results, as one Mean vertical track irregularity has been shown to be
would expect. It seems most likely that these changes estimated using a pitch-rate gyro mounted on an
are caused by tamping operations. in-service vehicle. The use of a pitch-rate gyro to esti-
mate the mean vertical track alignment at wave-
lengths above those where geometric filtering from
5.4 Direct comparison of TRV and trial 70 m the bogie wheelbase and dynamic filtering from the
vertical reconstructed irregularity primary suspension system affect the results has
been demonstrated, resulting in good estimates for
Figure 11 shows a 1000 m section of reconstructed
wavelengths longer than 6 m at vehicle speeds of
70 m mean vertical alignment derived from a pitch-
above a few metres per second. Neither mechanical
rate gyro compared to the same information from
nor optical displacement transducers are required,
the TRV (taken 16 months earlier). The 70 m SDs
resulting in reduced system cost and maintenance.
show a considerable reduction between the TRV
Trials conducted on Tyne and Wear Metro vehicles
results and the trial result. A close comparison of
have shown that the results are both credible and
the results shows that the trial result has many of
the features of the TRV result, but the features are
fitted into a narrower vertical space. In particular,
the middle third of the 1 km section is much
improved, suggesting that the track has been
tamped between the time of the TRV passing and
trial 1. Unfortunately, maintenance records are not
accessible for this section.
Figure 12 shows the TRV and pitch rate gyro
derived 70 m vertical irregularity over a 1 km stretch
of track in which the 70 m (and 30 m) SDs agree
reasonably well. The figure shows very good agree-
ment between the TRV result and the trial result. It
seems likely that this 1 km of track is either
unchanged since the TRV passed, or if the track
was tamped then the irregularity has returned.
Despite the relatively large differences in much
of the 70 and 35 m SDs, the direct comparison
between the TRV results and the trial results gives Fig. 12 Pitch-rate gyro-derived mean 70 m vertical
confidence that the pitch-rate gyro is picking up gen- profile and TRV result from 16 months
uine vertical irregularity. earlier: small differences

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 Monitoring vertical track irregularity
consistent despite different suspension component
conditions and wheel wear. Comparison between
real measured track geometry and mean vertical
alignment computed from a pitch-rate gyro
mounted on a Class 175 vehicle showed that the
system gives credible results and shows regions
where there have been significant changes over an
18 month interval as well as places where the mean
vertical alignment is practically unchanged.
While accelerometers and displacement transdu-
cers can provide more accurate results, the pitch-
rate gyro method provides results over a wider speed
range and is a simpler and more robust arrangement.
Irregularities at wavelengths below 6 m could be
identified by augmenting the pitch-rate gyro with
left and right axlebox-mounted accelerometers.
Capturing data from an in-service vehicle provide
the possibility of providing daily measures of mean
vertical track geometry measures and detection of
changes in the alignment. This information can be
used by permanent way engineers to facilitate track
maintenance scheduling.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was carried out under a DfT (Depart-
ment for Transport, UK) funded project FIT096
(Future of Integrated Transport) in partnership with
AEA Technology Rail; Alstom Traincare; Carillion
Rail; Nexus (Tyne and Wear Metro); and London
Underground. Particular thanks are due to Nexus
and Alstom for provision of trial facilities.
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1 Network Rail. Track design handbook, 2004, Issue 8,
London, UK, RT/CE/S/049.
2 BS EN 13848-1. Railway applications/track. Track
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cations /track. Track geometry quality. Part 2: measuring
devices – track recording vehicles, 2003 (British Stan-
dards Institution, London).
7 Zywiel, J. and Oberlechner, G. Innovative measuring
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9 McAnaw, H. E. The system that measures the system.
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11 Federal Railroad Administration. Developed wheel
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18 Draft EN 13848-5 (Draft 05/30134794 DC). Railway
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geometric quality assessment. 2005 (British Standards
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19 Weston, P. F., Ling, C. S., Goodman, C. J., Roberts, C.,
Li, P., and Goodall, R. M. Monitoring lateral track irre-
gularity from in-service railway vehicles. Proc. IMechE,
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20 Weston, P. F., Li, P., Ling, C. S., Goodman, C. J.,
Goodall, R. M., and Roberts, C. Track and vehicle con-
dition monitoring during normal operation using
reduced sensor sets. Trans. Hong Kong Institution of
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21 Li, P., Goodall, R., and Kadirkamanathan, V. Esti-
mation of parameters in a linear state space model
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APPENDIX 1
Notation
a acceleration (ms22)
dx half wheelset longitudinal spacing (m)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 221 Part F: J. Rail and Rapid Transit
86 P F Weston, C S Ling, C Roberts, C J Goodman, P Li, and R M Goodall

K curvature (rad m21) The acceleration tangential (t) and normal (n) to the
R radius of curvature (m) trajectory are
s displacement along the track (m)
SD standard deviation
at ¼ x€ cos (f)  z€ sin (f) ¼ v_ (11)
t time (s)
z vertical position, e.g. of bogie (centre of an ¼ z€ cos (f) þ x€ sin (f) ¼ vḟ ¼ v2 f0 (12)
gravity) (m)
z_ differentiation of z with respect to t, similar
for other quantities For small pitch angles (with zero pitch indicating
z 0
differentiation of z with respect to s, similar horizontal) the approximations
for other quantities
f
z^ pitch-rate gyro-derived vertical position sin (f)  f (13a)
estimate (m)
cos (f)  1 (13b)
Ds spatial sampling interval (m)
u roll (rad), e.g. ubogie is bogie roll (rad) are generally used.
vx vehicle speed along track m s21
f pitch (angle) (rad)
Accelerometer equations
APPENDIX 2 Let the orientation of an accelerometer be given by
fa relative to vertical. The sensed acceleration, ignor-
Formulae for side-view (vertical) trajectory ing the acceleration of gravity which is calibrated out
to terms of first order, is
This appendix contains derivations of the relation-
ships between ‘vertical’ or ‘normal’ acceleration,
pitch-rate, and the vertical displacement of a trajec- a ¼ z€ cos (fa ) þ x€ sin (fa ) (14)
tory. In addition, spatially discretized samples of ver-
tical curvature are derived. The coordinate system for a ¼ ðv cos (f)ḟ  v_ sin (f)) cos (fa )
the side view trajectory is shown in Fig 1. þ ðv sin (f)ḟ  v_ cos (f)) sin (fa )
Useful relationships are given below. The limits of
integration, dummy variables, and constants of inte- ¼  cos (f  fa )vḟ  sin (f  fa )v_ (15)
gration are omitted for simplicity
ð assuming fa  f, cos (f  fa )  1 and sin (f  fa ) 
x ¼ cos (f)ds (6a) f  fa , then

x0 ¼ cos (f) (6b)

00 0 a  vḟ  fv_ þ fa v_ (16)
x ¼  sin (f)f (6c)
ð
z ¼  sin (f)ds (7a) One route to estimate z is to double integrate the
observed acceleration with respect to time
z0 ¼  sin (f) (7b)
z00 ¼  cos (f)f0 (7c) ðð ðð
z^ z ¼ adt dt ¼  _
(vḟ þ fv)dt dt
vertical curvature is defined by ðð
þ _ dt
fa vdt
1
K ¼ ¼ f0 (8) ð ðð ð
R
¼  vfdt þ _ dt ¼  fds
fa vdt
For an object moving along the trajectory at speed ðð
v ¼ s_ , the following relationships hold þ _ dt
fa vdt
ðð
x_ ¼ v cos (f) (9a) _ dt
zþ fa vdt (17)
x€ ¼ v sin (f)ḟ þ v_ cos (f) (9b)
z_ ¼ v sin (f) (10a)
The latter term is an error term that depends on the
z€ ¼ v cos (f)ḟ  v_ sin (f) (10b) orientation of the sensor and the acceleration of the

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 Monitoring vertical track irregularity 87

vehicle. A second route to estimate z is These curvature estimates can be used to estimate
vertical position
ðð ðð
a ḟ
z^ n ¼ ds ds ¼  ds ds
v2 v ðð
ðð z^ ¼ K^ ds ds (23)
v_
þ (fa  f) 2 ds ds
v
ð ðð
v_
¼  fds þ (fa  f) 2 ds ds or used directly to identify certain faults such as
v
ðð voiding.
v_ Discrete-time curvature estimates are defined with
zþ (fa  f) 2 ds ds (18)
v a sampling interval of Ds. From an accelerometer, the
discrete-time curvature estimates for each interval is
In this estimate, the error term depends on the given by the spatial average
difference between the sensor orientation and the
local track slope rather than on the absolute sensor
ð sk þðDs=2Þ
orientation. The implications are discussed in the a
main text. K^ ka ¼ 1=Ds 2
ds (24)
sk ðDs=2Þ v

Pitch-rate gyro equations The spatial samples of curvature from a pitch-rate

gyro are given by
Let a pitch-rate gyro be oriented an angle ff ,
for example the bogie pitch angle. If the pitch
ð sk þðDs=2Þ
angle of the rate gyro is approximately equal to ḟ
the pitch angle of the track, then an estimate K^ kf ¼ 1=Ds ds (25)
sk ðDs=2Þ v
for the corresponding vertical displacement is
given by
ð ð ð Spatial curvature estimate samples are assumed to
z^ f ¼  ff ds ¼  v ḟ f dt dt be related to the vertical position by

ðð
ḟ f
z^ f ¼  ds ds (19) zk1  2zk þ zkþ1
v Kk  (26)
(Ds)2
These estimates are discussed in the main text.

Curvature Table 2 Sensors used for Tyne and Wear Metro trials

The geometry and sensor observations can be Designation Description Range

defined in terms of curvature. The curvature of the z€ L, axlebox Vertically sensing accelerometer +100 g
trajectory is given by on left trailing axlebox
z€ R,axlebox Vertically sensing accelerometer +100 g
on right leading axlebox
1 z€ L,bogie +10 g
K ¼ ¼ f0 (20) Vertically sensing acccelerometer
R above left trailing axlebox
z€ R, bogie Vertically sensing acccelerometer +10 g
above right leading axlebox
The estimate of curvature from a perpendicularly DzL Displacement (6a) to 8 +38 mm
sensing accelerometer is given by DzR Displacement (7a) to 8 +38 mm
ḟ bogie Bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro +508 s21
a u̇ bogie Bogie-mounted roll rate gyro +508 s21
K^ a ¼ 2 (21) ċ bogie Bogie-mounted yaw rate gyro +508 s21
v y€ bogie Bogie-mounted, laterally sensing +10 g
accelerometer
The estimate of curvature from a pitch-rate gyro is z€ body Body-mounted, vertically sensing +4 g
accelerometer over
given by instrumented bogie
v Voltage proportional to 0 to 10 V
ḟ vehicle speed
K^ f ¼ (22) 0 to 23 m s21
v

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88 P F Weston, C S Ling, C Roberts, C J Goodman, P Li, and R M Goodall

This relationship is used to provide the link between Table 3 Sensors used for Class 175 trials
samples of curvature and discrete samples of vertical
Designation Description Range
position.
z€ bogie Bogie-mounted, vertically +10 g
sensing acccelerometer
APPENDIX 3 (somewhat offset laterally)
y€ bogie Bogie-mounted, laterally- +10 g
sensing acccelerometer
Sensors used in trials ḟ bogie Bogie-mounted pitch-rate gyro +508 s21
u̇ bogie Bogie-mounted roll rate gyro +508 s21
This appendix lists the sensors used for the Tyne and ċ bogie Bogie-mounted yaw rate gyro +508 s21
Wear Metro vehicle trials and the Class 175 vehicle z€ body Body-mounted, vertically- +4 g
sensing accelerometer over
trial. Some of the sensors are used for cross-checking instrumented bogie
observed quantities. v Voltage proportional to 0 to 10 V
vehicle speed (0 to 45 m s21)
Tyne and Wear Metro trials

The sensors available in the Tyne and Wear Metro

trials (the ones used in this paper) are listed in
Table 2. The instrumentation was based around the
centre (non-motored) articulation bogie. All chan-
nels were logged to disk at a common sampling
rate of 4 kHz for simplicity.
The large number of sensors used in the trials were
used to provide independent estimates of certain
quantities and to provide information for lateral
movements.
Class 175 trials
The sensors available in the Class 175 trials (the ones
used in this paper) are listed in Table 3. A non-mo-
tored bogie was instrumented: the leading bogie of
the whole vehicle rake in one direction, the trailing
bogie on the return journey. No axlebox acceler-
ometers were fitted.

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