Wabtec shows off what could be rail products of the future

The research and development wings at innovative companies come up with lots of ideas, but the key is developing products that serve a need or solve a problem.

That’s why Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp. — Wabtec — held a media gathering Wednesday to show off some of its railroad industry ideas under development in a display at The Pennsylvanian in Downtown Pittsburgh. The company wants to determine if there is a market before it continues development.

The company’s advanced technology group displayed potential products ranging from a small power train to run shorter freight trains on local trips instead of trucks to sleds that can run under railcars for pre-trip inspections and remote operators who can oversee train movements from a thousand miles away. If the rail industry shows an interest, Wabtec will proceed to producing the items for potential use around the world on freight and passenger trains.

But the group’s efforts are more than just throwing a bunch of things on the market to see what sells, said Philip Moslener, vice president of advanced technologies at the worldwide company based in Pittsburgh.

Because the company has been involved in the rail industry for more than 150 years, it knows the industry’s trends and needs, so it has a strong head start on what would help. In some cases, the company has received a grant from an agency such as the Federal Railroad Administration to develop a particular product.

For example, Moslener said, the company knows the rail industry has been losing out to freight trucks that take cargo the last few hundred miles because they can do it more efficiently. So Wabtec is developing a smaller power train called Maverick that can move shorter freight trains 700 to 1,000 miles at a lower cost while eliminating air pollution that a fleet of truck would produce.

“We think that can open up a new market for railroads,” said Moslener, who said his team’s primary job is to “de-risk” products before they go to market.

Maverick could particularly be useful in Pennsylvania, which has more short-line railroads than most states.

RailGhost is a camera-equipped sled that can slide underneath resting trains for pre-trip inspections to identify potential problems with brakes, couplings and other safety elements. The sled could help with “any type of inspection that needs to be done,” said Milan Karunaratne, vice president for artificial intelligence and digital technologies at Wabtec.

Wabtec has been working with Carnegie Robotics for about 18 months to develop the sled. That mechanical inspection could be a help to unionized train inspectors who have complained for years that they have less than five minutes to inspect a raft of items on outgoing trains.

One item that Moslener believes would be a big benefit to the rail industry is the fuel agnostic power assembly. That device would allow a diesel train to reduce carbon emissions and operating costs by mixing diesel fuel with hydrogen, ethanol, methanol or natural gas.

“It won’t happen overnight, and it’s not a magic wand, but we think it could be a big help,” Moslener said.

OneBot would use AI to help mechanics and other technicians identify and correct equipment problems. The system has had a 500-page maintenance manual downloaded into its computer to help to identify solutions when the characterizations of the problem are entered into its database.

Through Teleoperations, a technician in a high-tech control chair with a computer screen — think of the control room of the Enterprise on “Star Trek” — could monitor and control the movement of trains a thousand miles away. On Wednesday, staff at The Pennsylvanian could watch and operate a train being tested in the company’s Erie manufacturing plant.

The researchers stressed that they work with agencies here and in other countries to make sure they are developing products that meet regulatory standards. In some cases, a product may qualify for testing or deployment somewhere such as Brazil before it meets U.S. requirements.

“All segments work together,” Moslener said. “We want them to tell us, ‘Is this a big problem to solve?’ These are big challenges we are going after.”