A NEW "virtual" track inspection system developed by a York engineering firm to save lives of rail staff and train passengers has won its first major contract. Omnicom Engineering's OmniInspector, which allows inspecting engineers to "walk" the tracks, looking for faults, without leaving their offices, is about to "go live" on the West Coast Main Line.

The system, which is the result of video-recording of thousands of miles of track with three dimensional measurements, has been contracted by GT Railway Maintenance (GTRM), the Birmingham-based rail infrastructure maintenance company.

The deal is worth a five-figure sum, but its future application is likely to attract millions of pounds to Omnicom Engineering, which is based in Tadcaster Road. GTRM inspectors can now venture into "red zone" areas of the West Coast Main line, which are normally so dangerous because of high speed trains that inspection is impossible, and beam into the results of the travels of a specialised train which has monitored faults like cracks, loose bolts, wild vegetation, twisted rails and subsidence. Mike Nickolay, Omnicom's commercial director, said that the contract was not worth a great deal financially, but with five or six contractors working to improve the infrastructure of the railways, the system had a multi-million pound potential.

With the immediate prospect of adapting OmniInspector for surveying trunk roads and motorways for county councils and highways authorities, the growth was likely to see staff expand from 50 to 65 over the next two years.

"We will record the existence and state of highway 'furniture' using video cameras and three dimensional measurements mounted on a specialised van. It is more difficult than on rails because of the traffic, but the advantage, unlike rail. is that you don't need permission to do it."

OmniInspector evolved from the company's OmniDurveyor3D, which in a £2 million deal was used by Railtrack to video 20,000 track miles accurately recording positions, lengths and details with every frame at 25 frames per second.

The software, linked to a camera-bristling, all-seeing, all-measuring single diesel unit which criss-crossed Britain, was one reason Omnicom clinched the top international award for Breaking the Barriers in Product Technology at Ausrail 2001, the international rail exhibition and conference in Brisbane.

Updated: 09:27 Tuesday, February 05, 2002