Rail Joint Gap Measurement Method using Train Frontal Images Captured by a Handy Video Camcorder

Abstract

Joint gap measurement is an important inspection to prevent buckling of railways. However, this measurement is labor intensive and time consuming because the tracks are too long for manual inspections. Therefore, we have developed a rail joint gap measurement method using train frontal images recorded by a handy video camcorder. In this paper, we describe details pertaining to the proposed method and discuss the measurement results obtained based on an experiment involving a commercial train.