SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER 293

Improving railway switch system reliability with

innovative condition monitoring algorithms
J A Silmon∗ and C Roberts
Centre for Railway Research and Education, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

The manuscript was received on 14 September 2009 and was accepted after revision for publication on 18 February 2010.
DOI: 10.1243/09544097JRRT313

Abstract: INNOTRACK is a project funded under the European Commission Sixth Framework
research programme. The project aims to develop approaches capable of achieving a 30 per cent
reduction in track life-cycle costs (LCCs). As part of a cost consolidation exercise within the
project, it was identified that switch and crossing maintenance and inspections account for
around 19 per cent of the total maintenance costs. Improved condition monitoring can be used
as part of a condition-based maintenance regime, which saves money over traditional periodic
maintenance. This paper presents a novel algorithm that has been developed, which uses quali-
tative trend analysis (QTA) to detect and diagnose incipient faults in switches, which have been
difficult to detect using current commercial methods. The algorithm is demonstrated using fault
simulation data collected from DC electric switch actuators of a type widespread in the UK.
The increased fault diagnosis capability has the potential to contribute significantly towards the
achievement of the 30 per cent reduction in track LCCs.

Keywords: fault diagnosis, condition monitoring, qualitative trend analysis, railway switch
actuator, incipient

1 INTRODUCTION 1.2 Methods for reducing the LCCs of

1.1 The need for innovation
Europe’s railways are in a state of flux. Despite recent
economic downturns, the railways have never been
in greater demand. The demands being placed on
track systems are becoming greater, as line speeds,
service frequencies, and axle loads increase. Infra-
structure managers are under pressure to provide
greater capacity and improved reliability, and this
results in higher life-cycle costs (LCCs) for assets,
because they require more maintenance to mitigate
the increased risks of failure. Current track systems
will need to be improved in the years to come if
the infrastructure is to meet the requirements placed
upon it.
∗ Corresponding author: Centre for Railway Research and Educa-
tion, University of Birmingham, Gisbert Kapp Building, Pritchatts
Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
email: j.silmon@bham.ac.uk
track systems
Railway infrastructure has traditionally been an
expensive asset to maintain. It consists of a large vari-
ety of different systems, spread over long distances
and required to be available for as much of the
day as possible. Maintenance and inspections have
traditionally been carried out at periodic intervals,
determined by safety and reliability considerations.
This approach fulfils risk management criteria, but
is labour-intensive. Staff are exposed to lineside haz-
ards more often than may be strictly necessary. It
also leaves the possibility that equipment might fail
between maintenance visits or that equipment that
is healthy may be adversely affected by an unneces-
sary maintenance task. All these aspects suggest that
periodic maintenance is not the most cost-effective
approach.
Condition-based maintenance (CBM) has long been
the goal of infrastructure operators keen to reduce
their maintenance costs. In this approach, assets are
maintained only when required. In order to achieve
this, accurate and timely information is required on

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294
the condition of the assets. This implies the use of reli-
able automatic condition monitoring systems, which
can detect and diagnose most, if not all, possible faults.
This capability has not yet been achieved.
INNOTRACK subproject 3.3 has been concerned
with the development of innovative monitoring sys-
tems for switches and crossings (railway points). This
package of work has determined the key parame-
ters for switch system monitoring [1], proved exper-
imentally that the parameters reflect simulated fault
conditions [2], suggested an open standard for the
specification of switch monitoring systems [3], and
demonstrated the use of advanced algorithms to
detect incipient faults in measured data [4].
1.3 Structure of this paper
A discussion of monitoring requirements is in section
2. Section 3 outlines the process followed to deter-
mine the key parameters for condition monitoring of
switches. Using the key parameters, a novel approach
was developed after an extensive review of current
methods (summarized in section 4). The novel method
is described in section 5. Section 6 describes a case
study carried out using the HW switch actuator, a
DC electric actuator used predominantly in the UK.
Conclusions (section 7) are presented at the end.
2 REQUIREMENTS FOR MONITORING SYSTEMS
2.1 Purpose
The purpose of a condition monitoring system is
to provide accurate and timely warning to mainte-
nance staff of any deterioration in the condition of
the monitored asset. This allows corrective action to
be carried out before a failure occurs, which means
that the tasks can be planned to cause minimum
disruption to railway traffic. This approach is called
‘condition-based maintenance’ and is more efficient
in terms of disruption and staff hours than the present
periodic maintenance regimes, where certain mainte-
nance tasks are carried out at fixed intervals calculated
from risk mitigation exercises.
2.2 Requirements
An ideal set of requirements for a condition monitor-
ing system (neglecting practical considerations such
as robustness) might read as follows.
1. The system shall detect incipient faults before they
become severe enough to cause failures.
2. The system shall diagnose the most likely condition
of the monitored asset at all times.
3. The system shall estimate the time remaining
before the asset fails.
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J A Silmon and C Roberts
4. The system shall require minimal pre-progra-
mming and training data.
5. The system shall be compatible with existing com-
munication systems.
6. The system shall not generate false alarms.
2.2.1 Fault detection
An incipient fault is one which develops gradually over
a period of time. Conversely, an abrupt fault is one
which occurs all at once, with no prior warning. Cur-
rently, condition monitoring systems on the railways
have used fairly simple methods such as thresholds
to detect when values fall out of tolerance. Although
this may happen due to an incipient fault, the fault
indication when a threshold is breached is an abrupt
one. These implemented systems have limited diag-
nosis capabilities; usually, an alarm is raised due to
a breached threshold and human staffs examine the
data for clues as to the fault’s nature before heading
out to perform maintenance.
2.2.2 Fault diagnosis
The diagnosis of abrupt faults is also of benefit to main-
tainers because it gives them advance warning of the
procedures required and therefore the amount of time
and the tools needed. By diagnosing the most likely
condition of the monitored asset at all times, the sys-
tem will be able to provide maintainers with an idea
of what condition the asset is suffering, and this will
make the process of planning corrective maintenance
more efficient.
2.2.3 Time-to-failure estimation
An ideal condition monitoring system would pick up
the first small signs of an incipient fault, diagnose its
nature, and determine how long maintenance staff can
afford to wait before taking action. This allows main-
tainers to prioritize tasks correctly and to arrange the
most convenient times to carry out maintenance: for
example, a low priority fault could be dealt with dur-
ing the dead of night, rather than during the day when
trains must be stopped for the work to be done.
2.2.4 Training data and models
Advanced fault detection and diagnosis methods usu-
ally require some form of configuration in order to
produce useful outputs. This may be a set of param-
eters for a mathematical model, which would be
constructed through detailed analysis, or it may be a
set of training data measured from experimental fault
simulations.
It is desirable to minimize the amount of prior
knowledge required in order to make the system work
satisfactorily, because the gathering of such knowl-
edge is time-consuming and costly. It is not practical to
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 Improving railway switch system reliability
train a monitoring system by simulating faults on every
asset it must monitor. This is because each asset has
slightly different characteristics, which cannot always
be assumed to be of negligible variance.
2.2.5 Compatibility
It is desirable that a monitoring system adds little
to the overall complexity of railway infrastructure.
Therefore, the system should be capable of function-
ing within existing or planned telecommunications
networks, rather than requiring its own bespoke com-
munications lines. However, the communications net-
works on most European railways are not unified
or standardized, and one of the advances suggested
in INNOTRACK was the replacement of the many
cables required for railway control with a standardized
interface, as shown in Fig. 1.
Under such a scheme, the monitoring system would
share the communications network with command
and control signals for all types of signalling apparatus.
However, monitoring is not safety-critical as signalling
is, so monitoring data would be assigned a lower pri-
ority on this network, so that signalling commands are
not delayed. When it is considered that values x, y, and
z are potentially more than ten each, it becomes clear
very quickly that the use of a networked command and
control system with a common power bus can reduce
the amount of lineside cabling dramatically. With an
open standard for the interface, compatibility of mon-
itoring systems, control systems, and other equipment
can be ensured.
2.2.6 False alarms
False alarms cause maintenance crews to waste time
and money maintaining equipment, which does not
require attention. This is a bad thing economically, but
it also has a detrimental effect on the faith that main-
tenance crews will put in the system. If it is not seen
by the technicians as reliable, they may feel that they
should ignore it or find a work-around to avoid rely-
ing on its results. This could have safety implications
Fig. 1 Configuration of traditional and proposed sig-
nalling wiring [3]
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295
and would negate any benefits of installing automatic
monitoring.
3 KEY PARAMETERS FOR CONDITION
MONITORING OF SWITCH SYSTEMS
Failure statistics were examined for a number of differ-
ent types of switch actuators. It was determined that
the most common failure modes are generally linked
to adjustment faults in the drive of the actuator. In
order to determine the key parameters for monitoring,
experiments were carried out on actuators at train-
ing schools, where faults could be simulated without
risking disruption to train services.
During the fault simulations, the displacement of
the switch, the force in the drive, and the current in
the motor were all measured. These parameters were
affected to different extents by the introduction of the
fault, as can be seen in Fig. 2, which comes from an
HW switch actuator. More details on this actuator can
be found in section 6. The displacement was almost
unaffected, but clear differences can be seen in the
current waveform, and most prominently of all in the
force waveform.
It can be concluded that force, current, and perhaps
displacement are the key parameters to be measured
if the major adjustment faults in switches are to be
detected. It then becomes possible to make tradeoffs
between the delays saved by the detection of more
unusual faults, and the extra sensors required to detect
them.
4 A NOVEL APPROACH TO THE DETECTION OF
INCIPIENT FAULTS IN SWITCH SYSTEMS
4.1 Current methods in railway fault diagnosis
There have been several pilot installations of condi-
tion monitoring equipment on railway infrastructure
throughout Europe. In most cases, these consist of
data collection equipment by the monitored asset,
with monitoring taking place either in the nearest
interlocking room, with a computer workstation, or
manually (by trained operators) at a central location.
Thresholds are the most common format of rule for
fault detection: if measured values exceed a preset
threshold, an alarm is generated and maintenance
tasks are performed.
Thresholds are adequate for the detection of some
faults, especially abrupt ones (which are not easily pre-
dictable), but for faults in adjustment, it is possible for
assets to perform within thresholds and yet deteriorate
over a period of time, before failing. Incipient faults,
which develop gradually, need more sensitive analysis
to be detected when they are in their early stages [5].
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Fig. 2 Progressive introduction of an overdriving fault towards the normal side in a HW electric
switch actuator
There exist, therefore, some opportunities for
the improvement of railway condition monitoring
through advanced methods:
(a) increased sensitivity to incipient faults;
(b) intuitive methods that technicians can under-
stand;
(c) automatic diagnosis and time-to-failure predic-
tion.
4.2 Advanced fault diagnosis methods
Industries other than railways have been working with
sophisticated supervisory control and data acquisi-
tion equipment for many years. Numerous methods
have been used to predict and diagnose faults in fields
such as electricity transmission and distribution [6],
gas turbines [7], and chemical plants [8].
There are three main types of fault diagnosis
method, into which most individual approaches can
be gathered [9]:
(a) quantitative model-based;
(b) qualitative model-based;
(c) process history-based.
Quantitative model-based methods work by using
mathematical relations to predict or estimate the per-
formance of a monitored system, from measurable
inputs. By comparing the predicted performance with
the actual (measured) performance, a set of residuals
can be calculated. The nature of these residuals can
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J A Silmon and C Roberts
be matched to prior knowledge about the effects of
certain types of fault.
If an accurate mathematical model of a monitored
asset is available, quantitative modelling can provide
extremely accurate and reliable fault diagnosis. In the
case of railway actuators, however, there are problems
that hinder modelling, such as the relatively high num-
ber of adjustable parts, non-linear loads, and rapidly
changing operational conditions.
Qualitative model-based diagnosis uses a variety
of techniques, including state machines [10], qual-
itative physics [11], and digraphs [12], to predict
the qualitative behaviour of a system from qualita-
tive observations or quantized measurements. These
models are useful in applications in which it is not
possible to obtain quantitative measurements or in
which there is large uncertainty in the behaviour of
the monitored system [13]. However, the accommo-
dation of such uncertainty reduces the sensitivity of
a qualitative model-based diagnosis system to faults,
which manifest themselves with small symptoms or
gradually over time.
All model-based methods require some analysis in
order to set a model correctly before monitoring can
begin. Railway actuators, especially switch actuators,
may have very diverse local conditions, even though
the driving actuator is of a common type. This means
that the variations in performance can be quite large,
even between actuators of the same type. For a model-
based method to succeed, the model must either
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Fig. 3 The process of qualitative trend analysis

reject these variations or predict them accurately. Process history-based methods use data collected
For a railway asset base which may number in the from the monitored asset to establish rules for
thousands, the amount of analysis involved would be diagnosing faulty behaviour. The collected data can
impractical. be analysed with statistical methods such as wavelets

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298 J A Silmon and C Roberts

[14] and principal component analysis [15] or be used
to train neural networks [16]. These methods can
be extremely useful because they only require data,
not analysis, and as data collection equipment forms
part of the hardware needed for railway condition
monitoring, this is not a difficult thing to provide.
However, these complex methods are often not
transparent in the way they work, particularly in the
case of neural networks. One key requirement for
a railway condition monitoring system is that the
method is simple to understand and mimics human
analysis, because it then becomes easier for technical
staff to understand the reasons that the system has
come to its conclusion. This aids the use of the system
and mitigates any false alarms. One process history-
based method that is quite intuitive is QTA [17]. This
process mimics human shape analysis by tracing the
important trends in a measured waveform and repre-
sents them as a profile of episodes, each representing
a trend with a particular shape.
This approach was adopted for the algorithm devel-
oped in this project, because it uses a combination
of qualitative and quantitative aspects to describe the
performance of actuators. This is useful because the
qualitative aspects can overcome the differences in
performance between actuator instances, whereas the
quantitative aspects ensure sensitive performance for
incipient faults.
5.2 QTA procedure
Because each measured waveform comes from an
actuator that is of a common design, it is fair to assume
that there will be some common characteristics of the
waveform. The purpose of using QTA is to isolate these
common characteristics and to form rules, which
describe their behaviour under fault conditions.
Figure 3 shows how a waveform of noisy data
is converted into a sequence of episodes, which
describe the qualitative and quantitative characteris-
tics of the waveform. When this method was imple-
mented, the waveforms were first filtered to remove
high-frequency components. The filtered waveforms
were quite different from the originals, but the effects
of each fault were equally visible, allowing the system
to identify more common episodes.
Figure 4 shows the nine shapes, which can be
assigned to a partition in the waveform.
5.2.1 Rule formation
When faults were introduced (in the TA data set),
the episode sequence (in terms of shapes) remained
largely the same, but the quantities associated with
each episode changed. The differences between faulty
and fault-free values were used to construct fuzzy sets,
which act as rules, testing the presence of each fault.
An example is shown in Fig. 5.

5 DIAGNOSIS OF FAULTS USING QUALITATIVE

AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

5.1 Available data

As a process history-based diagnosis method, QTA
depends on high-quality input data. A minimal data
set was specified, which would contain all the required
information for the system to work, and yet be prac-
tical to gather, given the constraints of the railway
environment.
Each fault that is to be diagnosed must be simulated
for data to be gathered. A single actuator is subjected
to the full range of faults in turn, as well as a control
test with no fault, with the fault being adjusted so that
the actuator is on the point of failure. This data set is
known as the test actuator (TA) set.
For each actuator that is to be monitored, the system
must first adjust the rules to the individual perfor-
mance of that actuator. This is done by collecting a
set of fault-free data from each monitored actuator
(MA). This set is therefore known as the fault-free MA
(FFMA) set.
The system then has enough information to start
diagnosing and detecting faults in the MA, as it mea-
sures data during each throw. This data set, in effect
the operational condition monitoring data, is called Fig. 4 ‘Alphabet’ for representing the shapes in mea-
the operational MA (OPMA) set. sured waveforms

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 Improving railway switch system reliability
Fig. 5 Fuzzy membership functions used to create rules identifying the symptoms of incipient
faults
5.2.2 Fault diagnosis
Each time the system is introduced on a new actuator,
it must accustom itself to the values associated with
fault-free performance. The system uses the FFMA
data set to do this, by performing a QTA on the data,
identifying the common episodes.
When the actuator is operated, the common
episodes are again found (from the OPMA data set,
i.e. operational measurements). The values in these
episodes are compared with the values from the
FFMA data set – resulting in a measure of perfor-
mance relative to the fault-free case on this particular
Fig. 6 Ideal output of the fault detection and diagnosis
system
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299
actuator, in the form of a set of differences rather
than absolute values.
These relative values can then be used to calculate a
membership value from the rules established earlier.
The membership values are averaged for each fault.
Over time, a trend can be developed for the presence of
each fault. A rising trend indicates that the symptoms
of the corresponding fault are increasing.
Figure 6 shows the ideal performance of the diag-
nosis system, represented in the fault presence trends
over time when faults are gradually introduced.
6 CASE STUDY: THE HW SWITCH ACTUATOR
6.1 Background
The HW is a switch actuator widely used in the UK. It is
driven by an 110 V DC permanent magnet motor con-
nected through a reduction gearbox, and a mechanical
or magnetic clutch, to the switch drive. Locking and
detection are integral to the actuator, although it is
common for supplementary detection to be provided
on long switches. A sketch of the actuator’s layout is
shown in Fig. 7.
The most common cause of failure in switches
driven by HW actuators is incorrect adjustment of the
many mechanical parts in the switch itself. This can
occur during maintenance, installation, or by a nat-
ural process as nuts move along screw threads. The
result is that the forces in the drive change, eventually
resulting in a throw failure.
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Fig. 7 Sketch of the HW switch actuator mechanism
Throw failure occurs when the actuator is required
to provide so great a driving force, to move the
switch rails, that it either reaches the limit of the
motor’s capability or the magnetic clutch slips (a safety
feature designed to avoid damage to the switch mech-
anism). Failure to complete a throw usually has no
safety implications, because the signalling system is
capable of detecting that the switch is not usable
and thus prevents trains from being signalled onto
that route. However, this has serious implications
for the reliability of the service provided by the
infrastructure.
6.2 Fault simulations
Three HW switches were subjected to fault simulations
as detailed below. Two of the switches had backdrives;
Fig. 8 Introduction of underdriving into the backdrive on the HW switch actuator
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J A Silmon and C Roberts
the third did not and therefore was only subjected to
the drive adjustment faults.
The variations in measurements were very pro-
nounced for the main drive adjustments, with a
noticeable increase in the force throughout the lock-
ing and unlocking phases, on the side of the switch
that was being overdriven.
Adjustment of the backdrive produced more subtle
effects, increasing or decreasing the force in both the
unlocking and the locking phases for each direction.
6.2.1 Backdrive adjustments
The backdrive in a switch transmits force from the toe
end, where the actuator is located, to the heel end.
The parts can be adjusted to provide greater or lesser
leverage, thus transmitting variable force to the heel of
the switch.
During experimentation, the channel rod mounting
block was moved away from its original position in
steps of a few millimetres. This was performed in both
directions in order to simulate both underdriving and
overdriving of the backdrive.
Figure 8 shows the data acquired when the backdrive
was progressively overdriven; the waveforms become
progressively darker as the fault becomes more severe.
6.2.2 Main drive adjustments
The drive rod from the actuator meets the switch
mechanism via a floating joint, which has adjustable
locknuts on either side, allowing the resting force in
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Fig. 9 Introduction of overdriving towards the reverse side in the HW switch actuator

both end positions to be varied. Figure 9 shows the Table 1 Test results for normal-to-reverse movements
data acquired when the drive was adjusted to drive
OK %
too far towards the reverse side. Spec. Condition combinations effectiveness

1 Fault free 6/6 100

6.2.3 Results Overdrive to normal 6/6 100
Overdrive to reverse 6/6 100
The results are measured in terms of the number of Backdrive overdriven 1/2 50
times, out of the theoretical maximum, that the test Backdrive underdriven 1/2 50
specifications were fulfilled. For the main drive faults, 2 Fault free 6/6 100
there were six possible combinations of TA and MA Overdrive to normal 6/6 100
Overdrive to reverse 5/6 83
data sets, neglecting the cases in which the TA was
Backdrive overdriven 1/2 50
the same actuator as the MA (because this skewed the Backdrive underdriven 0/2 0
results positively and does not address the problem
of transferring rules). For the backdrive faults, there
were just two possible combinations, because the third Table 2 Test results for reverse-to-normal movements
actuator did not have a backdrive.
Test specification 1 stipulates that the gradient of OK %
Spec. Condition combinations effectiveness
the fault strength trend for the simulated fault must be
positive (i.e. the system must detect that the simulated 1 Fault free 6/6 100
fault is increasing in strength). Overdrive to normal 6/6 100
Overdrive to reverse 5/6 83
Test specification 2 stipulates that the gradient of Backdrive overdriven 2/2 100
the fault strength trend for the simulated fault must be Backdrive underdriven 2/2 100
greater than the gradients for the other fault strength 2 Fault free 6/6 100
Overdrive to normal 6/6 100
trends (i.e. the system must diagnose the fault by Overdrive to reverse 4/6 67
showing that the simulated fault is the strongest). Backdrive overdriven 2/2 100
Tables 1 and 2 show the results of the system tests Backdrive underdriven 0/2 0
and the effectiveness as a percentage.
It is clear from the results that the diagnosis sys-
tem works well at both detecting an increasing trend
in the presence of a simulated fault and distinguishing if Figs 7 and 8 are compared. Because of this, the sys-
it from the other possible faults. The backdrive faults tem was less effective at distinguishing the effects of
were more difficult for the system to detect because the faults from random variation, explaining the worse
their effects were of smaller magnitude, as can be seen performance.

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7 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has outlined some of the major aspects of
the railways’ need for more effective condition moni-
toring and reviewed some of the main fault diagnosis
methodologies from research in many different fields
of technology. A novel approach has been developed
to address incipient fault diagnosis in single-throw
mechanical equipment, including switch actuators,
and has been tested thoroughly using fault simulations
on real equipment. The results show that the sys-
tem has promising potential and would be a valuable
component in future advanced condition monitor-
ing systems. With accurate and dependable condition
monitoring, infrastructure managers can move from
periodic maintenance, with its associated high cost, to
CBM. This will drastically reduce the LCCs of affected
assets, because maintenance and preventative main-
tenance, in particular, dominate these costs for railway
assets. Further work is underway to verify the system in
the long term, using operational data sets from condi-
tion monitoring systems already in service on railways
in Germany and the UK. The QTA algorithm will be
further refined to reduce the need for heavy filtering in
the process, which should increase the accuracy and
sensitivity of the system overall.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding pro-
vided by the European Commission Sixth Framework
programme through the INNOTRACK project. The
authors would also like to thank Network Rail and
Deutsche Bahn for allowing the collection of data from
their switch systems.
© Authors 2010
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