IoT reveals landslide risk near Karlovy Vary
New IoT technology reveals landslide risk on a railway line near Karlovy Vary
To get an understanding of what led the
railway operator to install the new safety
system and how this technology works,
we talked to Radek Trejtnar, Director of
the Track Management Department of
the Railway Administration, state organi-
zation, and Milan Hucl, Director of the
Smart Systems Division of ZAT a.s., which
developed and installed the system.
p: What led your organization
to implement a landslide
detection system at this location?
Radek Trejtnar: The area around Karlovy
Vary is characterised by complicated geo-
technical conditions with a frequent
occurrence of faults - both in the emban-
kment bodies of the railway and in the
bedrock itself. The main railway link here
is a double-track line included in the trans-
European transport network. On the basis
of a geotechnical survey, the emban-
kment was assessed as being in a dilapi-
dated state. We have already experienced
its sudden collapse in the past, so we de-
cided to implement the pilot project here.
We chose on-line diagnostics as an ade-
quate option to ensure the safety of the
local railway operation.
p: What technology is used here?
Milan Hucl: We are not a newcomer in
the field of railway transport – ZAT is
a long-standing supplier of dispatching
and control technology. Our systems are
deployed on half of the railway lines in the
Czech Republic. We launched a new pro-
duct in the rail family – the landslide de-
tection system – in mid-2021. Unlike the
boreholes and geodetic probes used, the
system provides 24/7 unattended moni-
toring of the site and provides immediate
warning in the event of sudden collapses
of the railway subgrade. The information
is transmitted to the visualisation in real ti-
me, which can prevent risks to personal
health and property damage. On the mo-
nitored line near Karlovy Vary, safety is en-
sured by 40 battery-powered sensors with
a lifetime of up to five years. The system is
practically maintenance-free and can be
transferred to a new site in the event of
remediation of the risk area. Thanks to its
innovative solution, it is one of the chea-
pest on the market. It also has the advan-
tage of rapid deployment within approxi-
mately two months.
p: What is so special about this
technology?
Radek Trejtnar: Before the introduction of
this system, monitoring consisted mainly of
regular inspections carried out by the line
manager on his rounds. In some cases, ge-
otechnical monitoring has been introdu-
ced, but its methods do not allow continu-
ous measurements with immediate
assessment of the condition. High-risk sec-
tions would then have to be guarded by
a warden around the clock, which would
not be sustainable in the long term.
These were all reasons for the search for
new technologies that would ensure the
safety of operation and be able to react al-
most immediately to slope movements.
There are not many products on the mar-
ket that include these features. We have
deployed ZAT systems for many years wit-
hin the dispatching systems. The SimONet
platform met all our required conditions,
i.e. on-line monitoring of sites showing
signs of instability as well as the maintenan-
ce-free and secure system delivered. At the
same time, it was possible to instantly con-
nect the technology with the dispatching
apparatus of the Railway Administration,
which was also decisive for us.
TT ++ TT
Technika a trh 5/2023
28
New IoT technology
reveals landslide risk
on railway line near Karlovy Vary
IoT technologies are becoming useful in an increasingly wide range of fields.
They are now ensuring the safety of railway passenger transport and protection
of property on the line near Karlovy Vary. A pilot landslide detection project using
wireless technology has been running here since February 2022.
rail transport
www.zat.cz
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