AI to help monitor wear and tear on Swiss rail lines
Over time, cracks can emerge in concrete rail sleepers.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: AI to help monitor wear and tear on Swiss rail lines
The line between the Zermatt ski resort and the town of Brig will be monitored for cracks using artificial intelligence developed by a Lausanne research team.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
KI soll Risse auf Zermatt-Brig-Bahnstrecke überwachen
Original
The technology will make inspections of train lines more efficient, the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) said in a press release on Wednesday.
Railway lines are usually checked manually by experts who assess the condition of infrastructure such as walls or concrete sleepers based on pre-defined criteria. However, the EPFL says, this carries the risk of subjective assessments, with inspectors assessing damage differently at different times.
To solve this, researchers trained an AI algorithm to differentiate between images with cracks and those without cracks.
The algorithm can now be fed with images taken over several years of a railroad section and quantify the severity of cracks in the walls and sleepers over time. In a study published in the Automation in Construction scientific journal, the researchers showed that this method of monitoring works.
In the next tests, the technology will be tested on the lines between Zermatt and Brig and between Brig and Disentis, in southern Switzerland. These sections of track contain a number of retaining walls with different shapes and materials, which makes the task very challenging for the algorithm, according to the EPFL.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dos
More
Debate
Hosted by:
Sara Ibrahim
Is artificial intelligence an advantage or a disadvantage for workers?
What is your experience with AI at work? Have you already used it? Has it helped you work better? Or has it caused you more stress, more work or caused you to lose your job? Tell us about your experiences!
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
This content was published on
Cattle in the canton of Geneva and in the neighbouring region of Terre Sainte in the canton of Vaud are being vaccinated against the contagious viral skin nodule disease. The first cases of the animal disease were reported at the end of June in France, just outside Geneva.
Fewer attacks on Swiss ATMs but their future remains uncertain
This content was published on
Bank ATMs in Switzerland are less prone to attacks by criminals, but their future remains uncertain given the less active use of cash by the population.
This content was published on
A series of rockfalls occurred above the village of Brienz between 9 and 12 July. According to the municipality of Albula, the overall situation remains tense. Several people disregarded the ban on entering the area around the village.
This content was published on
Arosa Bergbahnen achieved the highest figure in its 95-year history in the 2024/25 financial year with net revenue of CHF 37 million. Arosa Lenzerheide was able to capitalise on strengths such as snow reliability and the size of the ski area in a long winter season, the company announced on Thursday.
This content was published on
Unknown perpetrators stole ceramic dental implants during a break-in at a company in Oensingen, northern Switzerland, on Tuesday night.
Euro 2025: Bern prepares for massive parade ahead of Switzerland-Spain game
This content was published on
The last Euro 2025 match to be played in Bern, the quarterfinal between Spain and Switzerland at 9pm on Friday, promises to be a great celebration of football.
Clariant faces further ethylene price-fixing claim
This content was published on
Swiss chemicals group Clariant is facing a further claim for damages in connection with ethylene price-fixing agreements.
This content was published on
The Grande Dixence dam in Lower Valais is closed to visitors due to a rockfall last weekend. The nearby hotel also had to temporarily suspend operations for safety reasons.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.