Class I Awards Duos $1.3 Million Railcar Inspection Upgrade Contract

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
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Duos Technologies will institute increased automated mechanical inspections at one of its existing Railcar Inspection Portals (rip®) along a Class I network under a $1.3 million contract.

The goal of the upgraded rip® system is to identify specific railcar inspection points that can be monitored and addressed through the use of artificial intelligence applications that the Class I is developing and integrating into the Duos centraco® Command and Control Software platform, which “consolidates data and events from multiple sources into a unified and distributive user interface,” according to Duos.

rip® technology consists of a 360-degree modular intelligent visualization system that takes detailed, real-time, full-picture images of railcars moving at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour. The panoramic view can detect oil leaks, damaged parts, open doors and open and missing hatches, alerting inspectors to the problem and showing them the location of the problem. Sophisticated algorithms also identify more complex problems. The upgrade is aimed at creating “new perspectives” within the current system to identify specific railcar inspection points that can be monitored by channeling artificial intelligence (AI) applications being developed by the client and integrated into the Duos centraco® platform. Duos said the expectation is that it will expand to other locations upon a successful proof-of-concept.

Work is slated for completion before year-end. The contract also includes future payments through 2022 for recurring service, maintenance and spare parts components.

Duos CEO Chuck Ferry, who started work at the company earlier this month, said he is “looking forward to growing our relationship with our customer and leveraging this initial upgrade into additional system deployments in the future.”

Duos has supplied rip® systems to several Class I railroads. CN, for example, has deployed seven so far.

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