One of the central maintenance regimes for railway systems is track maintenance work. The track maintenance regime is comprehensive, including preventive and predictive maintenance. Nevertheless, the number of independently created and built track inspection vehicles is limited to the railway operator only. This project aims to develop an automatic track inspection vehicle that detects and assesses the current state of the railway track via non-destructive methods. A complete analysis and assessment will be engineered to maintain the track according to the required track maintenance standard.

The vehicle, coded as RAIL AUTONOMOUS INSPECTION VEHICLE (RAIV), is built to endure the challenging environment for track works inspection. The vehicle is a waterproof vehicle equipped with wireless control and detection sensors. The vehicle consists of a Main Body Frame, Movement System, Inspection System and Auxiliary System.

The Main Body Frame consists of two main sub-mechanical systems. Body Chassis consists of Top panel, Main body, Sensor Carriage, Bracket/Attachments, Control Box, and Rail Sweeper. The second is Gauge Extender is Tire Rail Profile, Tire axle, Gauge lock mechanism. The integrated Main Body frame will undergo a comprehensive finite element analysis to ensure the total strength and collision level are comply with Malaysia railway standard.

The Movement System consists of the Traction and Control System. The main components for the Traction system are the Motor, Gear mechanism, Connecting rod and Driveshaft. While for Control System including Control mechanism, Surveillance Camera, Onboard Laptop and Remote Laptop.

The Inspection System consists Sensor System including Metal Magnetic Memory (MMM) Sensor, Portable microscope vision, MMM Analyser and Hall Magnetic sensor.

The Auxiliary System includes a Wire harness, GSM & GPS, Storage server, Encoder, Battery and Obstacle detection.

The RAIV uses a special-designed mechanised vehicle with MMM sensors mounted on the dedicated arm.

The RAIV is designed and manufactured based on the ability to roll on a T-shaped railway track. It is a mobile system that moves on the track and performs the track inspection works. The four-set MMM sensors will be mounted under the RAIV arm and integrated into the RAIV processor for data collection. The RAIV is controlled via 3G/4G wireless capability. The RAIV can transmit the collected data to the control centre or Mobile Apps. Mobile apps and rail control centres are realised through the IoT deployment (IoT) across the RAIV processor.

Apart from MMM sensors, the RAIV will be equipped with a night vision camera. The camera will record the other details such as ballast conditions, bolt and nuts conditions, weather and possible interferences.

Besides serving the Malaysia railway operators and industry, RAIV is able to be deployed to remote areas in other developing or underdeveloped countries. This ensures the track's maintenance works is kept at the best level and following good maintenance practices.