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WIRED Feature: NYC’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Tests Whether AI-enabled Tech Can Identify Rail Defects

Using data from sensor-equipped smartphones, AI models could prove to become a more preventative and cost-effective approach to track inspections.
map marker United States | Thursday, June 19, 2025
Reading Time : 0:30 seconds

An experiment conducted by the MTA and Google tested whether cheap, mostly off-the-shelf technology could supplement the agency’s more manual track inspection work.

The results: the tech identified 92 percent of the defect locations later pinpointed by human track inspectors.

While encouraging, WSP’s Transit and Rail Vice President, Brian Poston, doesn’t expect the U.S. regulations requiring regular human inspection and maintenance of rails to go away anytime soon.

 

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