Vegetation

Greater efficiency and sustainability in vegetation control 

Vegetation in the track bed is a problem for rail safety. The roots of weeds grow into the ballast bed and prevent rainwater from draining away quickly. This leads to silting up and the ballast loses its buffer function: vibrations and impacts caused by passing trains are no longer sufficiently absorbed. Regular inspection and maintenance of the vegetation in the track bed is therefore essential and also required by law. In view of the length of the rail network - in Germany alone there are more than 60,000 kilometers of track - vegetation maintenance is a complex and costly process for rail network operators, which is usually carried out by specialized service companies. A multispectral camera system developed by Fraunhofer IPM for a plant protection service provider is now automating the process of green detection for the first time. The optical system ensures that plant protection products are used in the most targeted manner possible and at the same time enables long-term documentation of the vegetation for the first time. The measurement data contains GNSS information for exact localization and can be queried both graphically and in tabular form.