A fibre optic monitoring system can be used for operational monitoring (train speed and components) and structural health monitoring (rails, sleepers, ballast, bridges, tunnels, rail safety, etc. Rail infrastructure plays an important role in fulfilling the demand for freight and passenger transportation. Increases in traffic volume, heavier axles and vehicles, higher speeds, and increasing climate extremes all contribute to the constant strain on the infrastructure. Installed on mobile or stationary platforms, they capture different parts of railway infrastructure, from over-head contact wire systems, rail tracks. Continuous railway monitoring solutions like fiber optic sensing, which require no trackside equipment, provide significant advantages over traditional typically point systems dependent on additional infrastructure. Such a system is widely used due to its ability to measure physical quantities.
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