From the Gold Coast to Cairns and out west to Mount Isa, a big yellow hero has notched up more than 205,000 kilometres ensuring Queensland Rail’s network is in tip top shape ahead of summer.
Custom-built and hard to miss in its yellow hue, the track recording machine travels the entire rail network to find and report on any potential issues before they worsen and become a safety risk.
Queensland Rail Executive General Manager of South East Queensland Assets Dave Smale said the big yellow track machine was one of the operator’s unsung heroes, logging more than 205,000 kilometres of dedicated service to ensure safe and reliable trains for customers.
“We always put the safety of our customers first, and for the past six years this bright yellow hero has been our worst kept secret,” Mr Smale said.
“Track recording is one of our key maintenance activities at Queensland Rail and while customers might not know what the yellow machine is doing when they see it trundle past a station – it’s very important.
“The track recording machine takes video footage, pictures, thermal imaging and measurements of every part of the track infrastructure including the rails and overhead wires.
“It is automatically monitoring for weaknesses and that data, accurate to the fraction of a millimetre, is fed instantly back to our maintenance teams who are dispatched to repair any issues before they worsen.
“Without this machine’s detection expertise, a minor issue could lead to major train disruptions.
“Our crews use track machines to travel and monitor the network outside of peak times so as not to impact customer services.
“That means fewer late trains and more happy customers.”
Queensland Rail Manager of Plant and Mechanised Maintenance Howard Sims said the track machine had just completed its latest South East Queensland recording run and was now headed north.
“262 times the big yellow hero has found potential issues during the latest SEQ run, rectifying them before they have a chance to become real issues,” Mr Sims said.
“These were 178 potential overhead equipment issues, 79 track geometry corrective actions and nine potential vegetation risks – with every issue repaired or monitored to keep our network safe and reliable.
“In extreme weather, like heatwaves, rails can expand which could lead to reduced track stability and misalignment issues, increasing the risk of defects.
“Vegetation striking the overhead wires can also cause major disruptions, so monitoring the rail corridor ahead of and during storm season is critical to minimising that risk.
“Another part of Queensland summer is the wet season, so we’re also on the lookout for defects due to poor drainage, including vegetation growing in the ballast and track formation, as this could affect the function of the ballast supporting the track.”
This is just one of the many and varied on-track machines Queensland Rail operates, like ‘Olly’, the ontrack machine which moonlighted as a ‘rail bus’ ferrying more than 3,500 people between flood impacted communities in North Queensland earlier this year.
Track machines, play a key role in getting the network back on track following major weather events, like TC Alfred, storms and flooding across Queensland.
ENDS