Rumo invests in Artificial Intelligence to improve the broken rail detection project and reduce the risk of accidents

This is a machine translation of Rumo's press release

Rumo, the largest railway operator in Brazil, has innovation as one of its business premises and is treading a path of leadership in technological transformations in the sector. In this sense, the company has just implemented the second phase of the Broken Rail Detection (DTQ) project, which consists of integrating an Artificial Intelligence system capable of increasing the levels of assertiveness in identifying problems on the road from 95% to 98%. .

The DTQ project was developed by Rumo's Research and Development (R&D) area, with the first phase starting in 2018, and represents an unprecedented technology in Brazil. In its first phase, the initiative consisted of installing a device at various points on the railway network and, with or without a train on the track, the conditions of the tracks were passed on to the Network Monitoring Center (NOC). When an anomaly was identified, the drivers of all trains were informed in real time, eliminating the risk of derailment.

Now, with the implementation of Artificial Intelligence features, the company has optimized the detection of broken rails. “In the months of August and September of this year, without the AI, 96 broken rails would have been detected. With the addition of the model, we had an additional detection of 6 fractures, totaling 102 cases and representing a gain of 6.25% in accuracy”, says Rodrigo de Souza, Railway Technology Manager at Rumo. After the tests were concluded, 60% of the DTQs installed throughout Rumo's network received the update and entered the assisted operation phase.

Another benefit of the system is the reduction of false alarms for broken rails. “The integration of the system reduced the notifications that caused the train to stop or the need for speed restriction”, explains Souza. “In the tests, 14 cases of false alarms were identified that would require inspections by the track maintenance team. With this new model, we increased the efficiency of the operation and reduced the rate of cases of this type by 50%”, he highlights.

About Rumo

Rumo is the largest railway operator in Brazil and offers logistical services for rail transport, port lifting and storage. The Company operates 12 transshipment terminals, six port terminals and manages around 14,000 kilometers of railway tracks in the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Goiás and Tocantins. The asset base comprises 1,400 locomotives and 35,000 wagons. Rumo is included in the 17th portfolio of the ISE B3, the B3 Corporate Sustainability Index that recognizes companies that are references in ESG practices.