ITALY: A prototype 200 km/h Unmanned Railway Vehicle designed to carry out automated inspection of high speed lines is undergoing trials at the Bologna San Donato test track.
The URV is designed to undertake inspection, monitoring, analysis and mapping of railway infrastructure without the risks associated with needing people on the ground in what RFI describes as ‘dull, dirty and dangerous’ locations.
It could also be used for security monitoring, with real-time detection of people and obstacles, or to deliver equipment to worksites.
The two-axle URV is 7·5 m long and 2 m high. It has been developed by infrastructure manager RFI and built by SNIAP. The operating system capable of either remote control or fully autonomous operation was developed by Fondazione Bruno Kessler and Embedded Systems. Politecnico di Milano devised the battery system which provides 4 h of continuous operation.
