Intelligent train monitor developments

This paper will report on the developments of the Intelligent Train Monitor (ITM) which is a product of an ongoing research and development program between the Centre for Railway Engineering at Central Queensland University and QR through its QRNational Coal business. Papers have been presented at previous CORE and other conferences on the earlier research that has led to the development of the ITM in its present format. Currently there is a single prototype operating in a coal electric locomotive operating in the Blackwater coal system. The results from the ITM confirm earlier work that significant savings in energy consumption are available with optimum driving practice. The results also show that the force predictions have a high degree of correlation with the actual forces experience along the train.