The TMH Smart Systems company demonstrated to the engineers of NC Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC the operation of the remote video monitoring system for the movement of wagons during shunting work CTRL@VISION WE. After successful testing of the system, it is planned to put it into commercial operation on the railway network of Kazakhstan.

CTRL@VISION WE was created by specialists from the Machine Vision Competence Center, opened in 2020 on the basis of TMH Smart Systems.

The demonstration trip was carried out with the participation of managers and involved employees of JSC "NC" Kazakhstan Temir Zholy "(KTZ) in the conditions of simulating shunting work with a train of 25 freight cars with the movement of an experimental train in the shunting areas of Nur-Sultan 1 station.

During the presentation, the mobile unit of the system, equipped with a camera, was installed on the tail car of the train. The image from the unit's camera is displayed on a monitor installed in the driver's cab. The screen receives data on the clearness of the path in front of the tail car and the distance to objects located within the trains clearance. The record is kept for 5 days. The equipment of the mobile unit is powered by a battery installed inside the case. The capacity of the rechargeable battery ensures the operation of the system for 12 hours.

As TMH Smart Systems told Gudok, the system is designed to solve the problem of limited visibility when the train moves in reverse. It enables the driver to evaluate the train situation and exclude the presence of the train compiler on the footboard of the car. And also, to understand its location when performing shunting, transport or transfer work. This will minimize injury to the trains compilers.

Andrey Romanchikov, General Director of TMH Smart Systems, noted that CTRL@VISION WE has already been tested on the railway tracks of the Kazzinc metallurgical plant.

“The system is undergoing a test period, the tests of the system were carried out with the length of the rolling stock from 10 to 72 cars (approximately 900 meters). We also plan to make large-scale tests on the KTZ network and the railway infrastructure of the metallurgical companies ArcelorMittal and PJSC NLMK,” he added.

During the test trip, Batyr Kotyrev, Chief Engineer-Director of the Technical Policy Department of KTZ, noted that KTZ has been working to improve the safety culture in railway transport over the past years. The remote video monitoring system will be another step in this direction.

“The compiler of freight trains is one of the most traumatic professions on the railway. Human life and health are the main values of the company, so we initiated this project. A number of developers have proposed their technical solutions. We settled on one of them,” said Batyr Kotyrev.

According to Andrei Romanchikov, testing of the system has now begun in pilot mode. The CTRL@VISION WE assistance system for the driver when moving the cars forward is planned for delivery in the current quarter of 2022 for installation on the rolling stock of KTZ and an industrial enterprise - the mining and smelting company Kazzinc.