Instrumentation Services - Railroad Measurement Systems and Services

Instrumentation Services, Inc. (ISI) has been providing customized measurement systems and services to the railroad industry for over 10 years. ISI provides turnkey systems, including system integration, on-site installation and post-installation data processing services.

ISI's data systems provide reliable, valuable data, supporting technical advances in railroad equipment and operations. Vertical and lateral wheel / rail forces, rail stress conditions and vehicle dynamic behaviour are becoming increasingly vital data for performance-based maintenance of a successful railroad operation.

Whether your requirements are for a short-term test or a long duration study we have the equipment and experience to help you collect the information you need to make an informed decision.

LATERAL FORCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

The lateral force measurement system utilizes ISI's proven remote data system technology to reliably collect data from strain-gaged rails, measuring the lateral and vertical wheel-rail forces of passing trains.

We have installed these systems for numerous clients, on both a domestic and an international level, providing reliable, cost-effective data for studies such as vehicle / truck curving performance, wayside lubrication trials, track geometry and effects.

RAIL NEUTRAL TEMPERATURE MONITOR SYSTEM

To allow our customers to monitor critical track assets closely, ISIs provides the RNT monitor system. This is a trackside data collection method, which measures the current rail-stress condition.

Sensors applied to the rails provide real-time measurements of the rail temperature and stress state, allowing constant monitoring of the rail neutral temperature, and optimization of rail de-stressing operations.The data is automatically uploaded to ISI's RNT monitor website for historical trending and notification of out-of-bounds conditions.

FURTHER RAILWAY TECHNOLOGIES

ISI also offers several other products and services for railway applications:

• Load Imbalance Detector (LID) to record car loading conditions and notify of disproportionately loaded cars
• The installation, maintenance and calibration of rail-based strain gage measurement systems

VEHICLE DYNAMIC TESTING

ISI's qualified engineers are available to support your specific instrumentation and testing needs, assisting with test design, on-site support, data collection and analysis. We are conscious of the evolving nature of custom instrumentation solutions and pride ourselves on responding promptly to customer requests.

ISI maintains an inventory of flexible data collection systems and accurate transducers to support your dynamic testing needs. We have provided complete instrumentation and data collection solutions supporting vehicle (on-board) testing, including:

• Structural (strain-gage) measurements
• Vehicle suspension characterization (accelerometer and displacement)
• Qualification testing (ride quality and other performance parameters)

We have assisted with test programs around the world with all types of transportation equipment in all types of environments. 

From high-speed lines in the northeast corridor, to container testing in the Pacific and equipment qualifying tests in India, we have the experience in data collection to meet your requirements.