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“The FELIX Project Team are leading the implementation of trailblazing and innovative Switches and Crossing (S&C) inspection technology across the rail network.
FELIX is an Automated Measurement Trolley for the inspection of S&C. It uses non-contact and non-destructive technology: a combination of cameras and lasers. As the trolley moves, a new scan is taken every 2mm to check that the various track geometry and critical rail profile measurements are compliant with S&C inspection standards.
The dedicated team have taken a project with a lack of business buy-in, to securing funding for four units and planning for deployment in four locations across the network, with more locations probable. To make this happen, the team have pushed through barriers and led an Operational Demonstrator in the Southern Region and done so to great success. 10 users were trained and over 150 individual inspections were completed. From here, deployment is due to commence across 2023 and 2024.
The deployment of FELIX will create a safer, more reliable, and more efficient railway. This will ultimately, in time, revolutionise the way S&C inspections are done. It will reduce track visits to site through its greater productivity and efficiency, making it safer for our colleagues. It also poses fewer physical demands for those traditionally carrying out manual inspections as it is remote radio-controlled and conducts the inspection semi-autonomously. In addition, with correct use and application, it has the potential to reduce derailments due to the promotion of early intervention and preventative maintenance, making it safer for passengers on our network. This will help fulfil Network Rail’s safety vision of getting everyone home safe every day. This underpins the work of Research and Development and is at the forefront of the project team’s mind, always.
The hard work continues as FELIX nears deployment, but to fuel the last stages, the project team and all involved deserve recognition for their perseverance and belief in creating a safer and more reliable railway… for everyone who interacts with our network.“
“I am nominating the FELIX project team for this award as they have worked tirelessly to get to the point where FELIX is about to be deployed for the first time on the UK network, a significant milestone that will have ramifications beyond just this piece of technology.
FELIX is a genuinely innovative product that will contribute to a safer, more reliable railway. It represents a significant change in process from the current manual inspection of Switches and Crossings (S&C), going from maintenance teams using various different handheld gauges to a semi-automated trolley that profiles the track every 2mm.
There are multiple safety benefits to using this new technology – the detailed data provided by FELIX will help teams to prioritise maintenance and therefore improve the performance of assets, improving safety for passengers and train operators. But FELIX should also make the workplace safer for maintenance teams, as it means work that was previously carried out by kneeling on track can be carried out at a safe distance, operating FELIX using an iPad.
As with any new technology, the project team has had to work hard to make progress and overcome challenges. They conducted an Operational Demonstrator on the Sussex route, working alongside the Track Worker Safety team on the route to plan out a real-world test of FELIX to demonstrate how it could be used. This not only helped develop an understanding of the technology and the various potential safety benefits, but it also helped to secure significant buy-in from the rest of the business.
The reason this project began was to understand how technology might help drive safety improvements in S&C inspection and that has remained a core driver for the team. Even during the Operational Demonstrator, the team has worked closely with the supplier to make further developments to FELIX, such as providing the operator with a 3D image of the rail, in order to further enhance safety.
It will be a great testament to the work of the team when the first FELIX unit is deployed later this year. Perhaps most significantly, the team has provided a blueprint to facilitate future deployment of other similar on-track technology, which will help drive further safety improvements across the UK rail network.“
“As the lead for Safer Trackside Working in Sussex, I am really keen to explore any new technology that has safety benefits in the first instance. In discussions with the Technical Authorities R&D team, it was apparent that the Felix machine could help us in this endeavor. The working relationship with the Felix Team and the Sussex STW and maintenance teams have demonstrated that a collaborative venture between the centre and a Route or Region can bring great benefits to the industry. Working together with the R&D Felix team, we have encountered challenges which we worked together to resolve. We have consulted with our TU colleagues nationally and locally as a joined-up team, which has proved very successful. We often hear stories of silo working in our industry, but this is a true collaborative effort to bring new technology into the workplace and not just in theory. This has also been supported at Director level, again both nationally and Locally. A great product now being deployed to provide safer work environment, repeatable measurements and an opportunity to predict faults and thus reduce the frequency over critical infrastructure“
“Current safety critical inspections of switches and crossings (S&C) is a time-consuming manual activity that rely on 19th century gauges. Measurements cover a range of discreet points, involve a range of techniques and are subject to interpretation and lack of repeatability. Poor condition and inadequate profiling of switch blades is a contributor to derailment. Working with an Italian company called Loccioni, R&D developed the Felix S&C Laser Profile Trolley; a system that uses lasers and cameras to assess, inspect and measure numerous parameters with switches and crossing assets, and provide us with data to assess the asset condition. This can help detect and reduce derailment hazards.
Felix is no longer a trial product and has product acceptance. The accuracy of the technology has been proven, compared to other tools such as the mini-prof, and its use has been ergonomically assessed. The technology is ready to be used on the UK rail network.
FELIX will allow for increased productivity reducing the amount of time our front line team spend on track (reducing boots on ballast). The system allows the inspection team to stand in a position of safety during the inspection, once again reducing the risk to our maintenance teams. FELIX will also provide the front line maintenance team the 21st century technology to undertake their safety critical inspections of the switch and crossing units.
Felix provides data that enables an improved understanding of S&C assets and helps identify when assets need to be renewed.
Felix could reduce the time spent on S&C inspection by up to 40%, enabling Delivery Units to free up resource and possession time.“
“From a supplier’s perspective, The FELIX Project Team's exceptional dedication, long-term vision, and unwavering commitment to enhancing the safety of railway switches and crossings (S&C) - through the development and following implementation of cutting-edge automated measurement technology aimed at increasing data quality of safety critical S&C parameters - is nothing short of remarkable. Their groundbreaking work has definitely set a new standard across the rail network and unquestionably deserves a nomination for this award.
The team embarked on an ambitious journey to revolutionize the procedures and instrumentation associated with railway S&C inspections. By harnessing state-of-the-art automatic vision technology and data elaboration algorithms integrated into the modular and automatic Felix system, they introduced a paradigm shift in how railway S&C inspections are carried out and decision-making data analysis is performed.
The team's initiatives went above and beyond their regular job responsibilities. They meticulously identified and tackled a series of complex challenges associated with automated railway switches and crossings measurements. These included the adjustment of Felix's characteristics and capabilities in order to reflect and surpass current industry standards, enabling objective and immediate detection of anomalies and potential hazards while minimizing human intervention and associated risks.
In addition to technological advancements, the team has been instrumental in developing comprehensive training programs for employees, ensuring that they will be well-equipped to operate and maintain Felix safely and efficiently.
Last but not least, leadership and collaboration within the team and with external stakeholders played a pivotal role in their success, guiding the project from its inception to its current groundbreaking status. They proactively engaged with the industry and cross-functional teams, fostering an environment of collaboration that ensured a holistic and comprehensive approach to an overall higher in quality, safer and more efficient S&C inspection process.
The impact of the FELIX Project Team's efforts is very important, to say the least:
their work has always been driven by the goal of reducing risks of railway accidents by improving the safety of railway switches and crossings based on accurate and reliable data recording and analysis. Ultimately this will increase the safety of the countless passengers who depend on the railway systems.
The FELIX Project Team's accomplishments are directly aligned with the Safety Team Award criteria, as they have demonstrated exceptional contributions, collaboration, innovation, initiative, and leadership in the realm of railway safety.
In conclusion, I wholeheartedly endorse the nomination of the FELIX Project Team's for the Safety Team Award. Their commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovative technology to increase inspection’s data quality of railway safety critical assets such as S&Cs, culminating in the development of Felix, is a testament to their unwavering dedication and expertise. They have not only allowed the possibility of running safer railways but have also set a shining example for the industry as a whole.“
“I would like to nominate the FELIX Project Team for this award since I believe that, from a supplier point of view, it has been by far the best project in which, for all of its phases, me, my colleagues and all the Team mates have felt to work in a safe, healthy and positive environment, developing together a system (the Felix robot) that aims to further enhance safety in railways: increasing the quality of work and the safety of the workers, leading to an innovative approach that boosts the quality of the measurement of switches and crossings and allows a wide vision on the state of the network’s S&Cs, helping the S&C maintenance process and consequently increasing safety for trains and passengers that every day travel across the UK.
I’ve been working on Felix robot development since May 2019: going through the approval process for this robot it has been a really intense and painstaking work, where the Team focused on several aspects in order to adapt the design and the features of the Felix robot (that had previously been designed for the Italian railway infrastructure and their standards), to the Network Rail leading-edge safety standards, improving the system’s signalling system, developing handy user interface and specific data processing algorithms.
The peak of this great Team work has been reached during the last months, where a Test Case project involving many delivery units from the Sussex route has been successfully completed. This was a really significant test bench for the Felix project: many users have been trained on the use of the robot and we had the opportunity to gather useful feedbacks for the improvement of the system and the possibility to stress-test it on complex junctions, proving its efficiency, its data quality and its potentiality to simplify the work of the users.
I honestly think that the FELIX Project Team deserves to be awarded for the Safety Team Award: it has been a long journey where the Team has always worked with great proactivity, great interaction, and an enviable collaboration that led to the deployment of the first Felix robot onto Network Rail’s infrastructure.
I look forward, in the coming years, to seeing the fruits of this fantastic teamwork!“
“Could you pass on Steven Yeo and my thanks for a wonderful evening on Saturday! We hope it will be the first of many that you will be able to run.”
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