Field trial of railway track defect detection with DAS

This paper presents a field trial on a heavy-haul railway in Zhangjiakou in China using DAS and communication optical fibers. The fibers, located in cable trenches along the railway, were used to detect and classify four types of track health states which includes three typical defects. This approach utilizes existing communication fibers, requiring no additional sensor deployment. It enables long-distance, all-weather monitoring of railway track health. The results confirm the system's ability for real-time defect detection and field application suitability.