Denmark’s railway to get digital twin

Engineering company Fugro has been awarded a four-year contract to create a digital twin of Denmark’s rail network.

The firm will operate lidar scanning on board trains, ultimately creating a virtual copy of the entire infrastructure, gathering information about the track and other objects along the 3,000km rail corridor.

Fugro was selected to undertake the digital twin project by Banedanmark, Denmark’s national rail operator. Lidar is a surveying method that measures the distance to a target by illuminating it with a laser, then measuring the reflected light with a sensor.

Intended to enhance both safety and efficiency, the digital twin will provide what Fugro said is an ‘information rich’ model of the network, detecting objects in conflict with the infrastructure clearance profile.

The data gathered will be collated into a single dataset to be used for track maintenance, asset management, landscaping and to assist the work of construction and signalling teams.

Fugro Rail global director Jeroen Huiskamp said, “This is the first time that Banedanmark has used train-borne lidar technology on large extents of the network and we are proud that they have chosen our RILA solution. The operational flexibility, improved safety levels, highly accurate data and attractive costing set it apart from other survey methods.”

Banedanmark project manager Charlotte Lomholt said, “We look forward to an ongoing cooperation with Fugro to survey the Danish rail network. With 190 million passengers and 3,000 trains passing through Denmark, safety is a major driver.

“The data that Fugro delivers will enable our teams to supervise the structure gauge and improve infrastructure maintenance predictions. All in all, it will help create the railway of the future.”