Experimental Study on the Potential of Vehicle’s Attitude Response to Railway Track Irregularity in Precise Train Localization

Railway track is never perfect, as rail distortions, namely, geometric irregularities, exist at all locations along the track. However, these distortions can be regarded as valuable indicators for train localization, since track irregularities present location-dependent characteristics, the measurements of which using onboard sensors are repeatable for the same track. In this research, we study the possibility of determining a train’s position by matching the track irregularity measurements to a predefined map. A train-borne experiment on a real track is used to preliminarily demonstrate the feasibility, evaluate the performance and determine the key parameters for practical implementation. The results show that a submeter longitudinal localization accuracy can be achieved even when using a low-cost cabin-mounted microelectromechanical system (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU), which measures the train’s responses to track irregularities. The proposed method can enhance the positioning accuracy and improve the robustness of multisensory train localization systems.