About the FRA DOTX-217

The Office of Safety owns and operates the DOTX-217 to support its mission to reduce track geometry caused derailments nationwide. The DOTX-217 surveys approximately 30,000 miles of United States mainline railroad each year.

The DOTX-217:

- Entered service in 2001
- Operates in either self-propelled or towed mode
- Is equipped with a track geometry measurement system to measure gage, alignment and track surface
- Is equipped with a vehicle track interaction (VTI) system to measure truck and car body forces in g's
- Is equipped with a differential global positional system to provide high accuracy GPS coordinates to each foot surveyed