Sleeper Asset Management

Smarter Sleeper Management for Safer Railways

Sleepers (or railroad ties) are vital for maintaining track gauge, ensuring stability, and distributing the weight from passing trains. Over time, sleepers can degrade due to exposure to weather, mechanical stress, and biological decay, risking structural integrity and the safety of the track. With an estimated 2 billion sleepers in use worldwide, managing these assets is critical. Zetica Rail’s precise scanning technology provides rail operators with insights they need to proactively manage sleeper health, prevent costly failures, and extend asset life.

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The Challenge

Sleeper degradation – Sleepers are exposed to environmental and mechanical forces that lead to wear and decay, threatening track stability and safety.
Difficulties in data collection – Historically, tracking individual sleeper condition and their locations was a challenge, relying on manual inspections, which were inefficient for large networks.
Increased maintenance costs – Regular manual inspections are costly, time-consuming, and may miss early signs of damage, resulting in reactive maintenance and unexpected failures.
Operational disruptions – Failure to detect sleeper issues early can cause severe track faults and service disruptions, leading to derailments, costly repairs and delays.

Our Solutions

Precise damage detection – Advanced linescan cameras and machine learning models tailored to each network identify cracks, chips, misalignments, and other sleeper defects—enabling early intervention before failures occur.
Comprehensive sleeper cataloguing – We offer a practical solution for logging each sleeper type, material, location, and condition, forming the foundation for robust asset management.
Data-driven insights – Our scanning technologies analyse sleeper condition trends and underlying causes of deterioration, helping operators develop targeted maintenance strategies.
Optimised asset management – Continuous monitoring supports smarter maintenance planning, reduces unnecessary replacements, and extends the operational life of sleepers.

Our Technology

We use cutting-edge technologies to deliver detailed, actionable data on sleeper condition. Our integrated systems combine the following:

Linescan cameras – High-resolution cameras (0.5mm – 2mm) capture detailed images of the sleeper surface, identifying cracks, chips, and surface wear. We can track crack progression over time and use 3D linescan cameras to measure crack depth accurately.
Classification algorithms – Our machine learning algorithms can automatically classify sleeper material (wood, steel, concrete) and identify specific types based on shape, logos, and manufacturing details.
Location tracking and spacing analysis – We capture the precise location of each sleeper and measure spacing and skewness and missing or damaged fastener clips to identify potential track support issues, ensuring that irregularities are flagged for attention.
Ground penetrating radar – We measure clean ballast thickness from the surface to assess the risk of accelerated sleeper degradation in fouled conditions and help identify underlying causes of degradation.
Data-driven reporting – By combining all this data, we provide detailed, actionable reports that help operators make informed decisions about sleeper maintenance, replacement cycles, and optimal trackbed configurations.