Infrastructure Monitoring Location Positioning

Tender description

Historically inspection and analysis of ultrasonic rail flaws has been a largely manual activity that required regular intrusive access to the infrastructure. The use of ultrasonic walking stick and hand probe equipment meant that this remained a labour-intensive exercise. Manual inspection also didn’t necessarily identify all the areas of concern on the network as quickly or frequently. As a result, a train borne measurement system was developed and Ultrasonic Testing Units (UTUs) were introduced. A fundamental part of any train borne inspection process is a method of reliably, repeatably and accurately positioning measurements against a fixed reference. This ensures that maintenance teams are dispatched to the correct location to verify suspect locations identified by the UTUs. The positioning system currently deployed on the UTU fleet has been in existence since their introduction in the early 2000s. What is now required is a further step change in terms of absolute positional accuracy and a positioning service that further improves service resilience and is capable of supporting future recording system modernisation. Lot 1: Network Rail are seeking to identify a solution that provides absolute positional accuracy and a positioning service for data that is collected from Ultrasonic Testing Units collected from a train borne measurement system. The purpose of this PIN is to: a) Engage with suppliers to generate and register interest. b) Provide clarity on the requirement and indicative procurement timelines. c) Identify the existing solutions available in the market and solutions that are likely to be ready within 6-12 months of this notice. d) Obtain feedback in relation to the requirement as currently defined so Network Rail can consider any suggested changes or updates before issuing the potential future tender. e) Ensure suppliers who are interested in any potential future tender activity relating to this requirement, are aware of the procurement platform and provide them with the steps to register on this platform (should they not have already done so). Responding to this PIN is an excellent opportunity to engage, share relevant information and provide each other with feedback. Should you wish to respond to this PIN please follow the instructions below: 1. Follow the link: https://networkrail.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html 2. From the welcome screen, access the “View Current Opportunities” link and select “#35112 - UTU Locational System Tender - AIS”. 3. Click on the attachment “Ultrasonic Rail Testing Data positioning - RFI Submission Template”. Suppliers should be responding to questions in the excel document. 4. Once completed please send your RFI Submission Template via email to: mark.adams3@networkrail.co.uk with the email subject " Ultrasonic Rail Testing Data positioning RFI".