East Midlands Railway (EMR) is working with a technology company on a project to improve the safety and efficiency of train inspections.

The operator describes the DepotMATE project as “groundbreaking”, and is receiving funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) and Innovate UK‘s First of a Kind scheme. It is delivering the project in conjunction with One Big Circle, a tech firm which opened its new workspace at Bristol Temple Meads station in November, and which develops intelligent video, AI and machine learning for the railway industry.

The project will take advantage of One Big Circle’s multi-award-winning Automated Intelligent Video Review (AIVR) cloud-based platform, which has also been used by Network Rail and Transport for Wales. The project will use high-resolution line scanning, thermal imaging, standard video cameras and acoustic sensors to assess a train’s condition from a remote location as it enters and leaves the depot.

This new approach will replace trackside manual inspection, which EMR describes as “time-consuming and more dangerous”. It will use the system to monitor its regional fleet of Class 170 and Class 158 trains.

Mark Coney, Head of Engineering said: “We are always looking at how we can embrace new technologies to improve our fleet for our customers, therefore we are proud to be a key partner in One Big Circle’s groundbreaking DepotMATE project.

“It will be great to see the project progressing and we are looking forward to analysing the results of the pilot to understand if the technology could be adopted on a wider scale.”

Emily Kent, co-founder of One Big Circle, said that the company “is delighted to be working with East Midlands Railway in the delivery of the DepotMATE project.”

“This project is a fantastic example of how the First of a Kind competition enables SMEs to accelerate initial concepts into cross-industry collaborations. Having partnered with EMR in the delivery of previous AIVR solutions, we are excited to be working together as we explore technologies to support digital depot monitoring.”