From June 2015 to January 2018, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) contracted Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to perform a 3-year study to develop guidelines for the implementation of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology by North American railroads. To achieve this goal, current background information was collected to establish the status of the technology, and a short history was compiled of the development of GPR technology in a railway environment. An assessment was completed of existing GPR performance criteria, data collection and processing procedures, and reporting standards. Basic requirements were described regarding the necessity of system hardware.

This document describes the development and implementation of GPR on a railbound research car, which included evaluation of the relationship between the GPR-based substructure parameters and the track condition in terms of stiffness and track geometry.  An assessment was also conducted for the track substructure degradation conditions identified by GPR parameters, and recommendations were developed for use of these parameters.

See Also: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Technology Evaluation and Implementation: Appendices A Through F