Paper Title
Automated Railway Track Tracing System using Ultrasonics

Abstract
Railway accidents are quite common on the news these days. Analysis of the factors that cause these rail accidents, recent statistics reveal that approximately 60% of all the rail accidents have derailments as their cause, of which about 90% is due to cracks on the rails either due to natural causes (like excessive expansion due to heat) or due to anti- social elements. These cracks and other problems with the rails generally go unnoticed due to improper maintenance, and the currently irregular and manual track line monitoring that is being carried out is the current solution for this situation. Manual detection is nearly unreliable and impossible in remote and inaccessible locations. This proposal aims to automate this fault and crack detection process by making use of ultrasonic waves, propagating through the length of the track, enabling the detection of cracks, jumps of faults along the railway tracks. The system also provides a notification mechanism with the use of GSM modules to notify the control stations when irregularities in the railway tracks are detected, and accidents averted. It is cost effective, simple in design and accurate.