GPR for the Inspection of Industrial Railway Tracks

Industrial railway tracks are important for the loading and unloading of goods and therefore for the railway system in general. Often, industrial tracks are embedded in concrete and/or asphalt to enable truck and other traffic across rails. Thus, most of the construction is hidden from visual inspection. If repair work is planned or if damage occurs, details of the construction have to be known for the planning of repair work or for the evaluation of damages. This paper describes the non-destructive testing of industrial tracks using GPR. Typical testing problems are described and the application of GPR for these problems is demonstrated using data from field measurements. Data from different types of equipment are compared and benefits and limits of the method are discussed. It is shown that GPR is a powerful tool for the inspection of industrial railway tracks.