Rail damage by a flat wheel can cause enormous costs for the railway infrastructure company.
For preventive maintenance, such as to know when to lubricate wheel bearings, maintain brakes and check springs and wheel roundness, RFID readers will update a central IT system in order to determine the mileage and service need of each railcar. The reader can for instance be connected with an axle detector system, wheel quality sensor system and/or bearing hot-box detector to provide further information about the status of each axle of a passing train.
Automatic follow-up of wheel quality ensures that defect vehicles are in operation for a shorter period of time after detection, which means that the wear on the tracks is considerably lower. It is even possible to debit the operator, not only to wear due to mileage but also according to wear due to wheel quality.
Fewer trains need to be taken out for regular service, and for passenger trains the inconvenience from being exposed to undesired noise and vibrations is significantly reduced. And it goes without saying that at the same time, the safety of the rail network is improved.