The project will enhance railway safety by proactively preventing train derailments caused by wheel and bearing failure through the deployment of new onboard sensors, PTC connectivity and workforce…

The Federal Railroad Administration awarded a cooperative agreement totaling $12,099,568 to the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on October 1, 2025, to enhance railway safety by preventing train derailments caused by wheel and bearing failure through deployment of onboard sensors, PTC connectivity, and workforce training.

The project will research, plan, and implement wireless onboard sensors that measure temperature, vibration, and other metrics of railcar bearings and wheels, supplementing existing wayside hot box detectors to enable carriers to identify potential failures in advance of catastrophic failure. Deliverables include project management and system architecture design; technology, patent, and prior art review; test planning; research on installation techniques and PTC integration paths; financial and commercialization analysis; software development and enhancement; hardware prototypes for wayside transceiver and sensor platform; intellectual property documentation; bearing testing capability expansion; RF testing preparation; device and gateway component fabrication; AI model development; laboratory and field testing; railcar equipment installation; bearing, wheel, and track inspection; and field personnel training.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen is partnering with a technology provider, a university railway center, and a railway testing facility. Performance of work occurs throughout the United States with a period of performance from October 1, 2025, through October 31, 2027.

The project will enhance railway safety by proactively preventing train derailments caused by wheel and bearing failure through the deployment of new onboard sensors, PTC connectivity and workforce training and deployment. The recipient (in partnership with a technology provider, a university railway center and a railway testing facility) will research, plan, and implement a workforce development strategy to deploy this new technology as a supplement to the current wayside hot box detectors (hbds). The technology will provide the ability for carriers to identify and detect a potential failure well in advance of a catastrophic failure while railcars are in service. This project will focus on the application of wireless onboard sensors, which measure temperature, vibration and other metrics of railcar bearings and wheels, to enhance the safety and efficacy of railroad operations. Activities include: 1) project management plan; 2) system architecture design; 3) technology, patent, prior art review; 4) test plan; 5) research installation techniques; 6) research paths for PTC integration; 7) financial analysis; 8) commercialization planning; 9) software development; 10) specifications for PTC integration; 11) hardware prototype - wayside transceiver; 12) hardware prototype - mini version of sensor platform; 13) intellectual property; 14) expand bearing testing capability; 15) preparation for radio frequency (RF) testing; 16) fabricate device and gateway components; 17) enhance back-end software; 18) determine ingress protection rating; 19) develop AI models; 20) implement laboratory testing; 21) ensco capability enhancement; 22) equip railcars; 23) conduct tests; 24) data analysis; 25) post-inspection of bearings, wheels, and track; 26) revise hardware; 27) revise software; 28) test PTC integration; 29) train field personnel deliverables/expected outcomes: implementation of this technology, and communications with the railroad will dramatically increase safety and further reduce and/or eliminate the risk of a failure causing an on-road (track) derailment while enhancing condition-based maintenance practices. Beneficiaries: the public (direct), railroads (direct), suppliers and industry (indirect).