The LDM road-rail NDT inspection mobile laboratory is a reworked all-road car UAZ-3163 – Patriot (LDM-1) or LAND ROVER – Defender (LDM-LR), which is known for high mobility and excellent crosscountry ability. Due to road-rail equipment, the laboratory may travel not only on roads (motorways, cross-country terrain), but also on railway tracks.

 The LDM road-rail NDT inspection mobile laboratory is intended for continuous rail monitoring, for diagnostics and inspection of defects according to NTD/TsP-1- 93 and ГШС rail defect classifiers, using data processing systems at a speed of up to 30 km/h. In the course of its travel, the laboratory also logs the parameters of the railway track section under inspection (coordinates of kilometre posts, crossings, switches, etc.). It generates and transmits the information on railway track condition to respective responsible facilities for their further operation.

for the railways of Russia and CIS countries the laboratory provides diagnostics, rating, monitoring for rail types R50, R65, R75 laid in a railway track with 1520, 1435, 1676 mm gauge. It also provides defect detection for the rails which sizes, Material and content conforms to: GOST 18267-82, GOST 24182-80, GOST 7174-75, GOST 8161-75, GOST 16210-77, and GOST 18576-85. 

The LDM-LR version of the laboratory is equipped with a device which is intended for quick switching from the rail track with 1520 mm gauge to the general European track with 1435 mm gauge. This feature makes it possible to employ the laboratory on almost all railways of Europe and Asia.

The LDM laboratory provides logging and documenting of raw inspection data and the results of their processing, as well asreal-time presentation of the acquired information.  All logging and documenting functions are performed the CRUISE-M or CRUISE-2 system (depending on the LDM version). 

The sophisticated design of the probe system provides precise positioning of the probe system on the rail head, reduces the risk of the system damage at the switches, and ensures increased inspection speed. Furthermore, the ultrasonic units of the probe system are unified with the ultrasonic units of the NDT vehicles. 

On customer’s request, the LDM-1-P, LDM-1-DP, and LDM-1-DPG versions of the laboratory, apart from the NDT system, may be additionally equipped with the track geometry and georadar systems manufactured by TVEMA. 

The rail track geometry system employed on the LDM-1-P uses TRACK software which is intended for collection, processing and logging of data acquired during the railway track inspection. The system software provides the display of the track geometry data with the diagrams for the relative position of the both rail threads by height (cant), alignment, and track gauge. 

The LDM-1-P version of the laboratory uses the georadar system which detects the location of the roadbed soil upper level and its lithologic structure, and it locates in the roadbed weakened areas having reduced density and increased humidity. In addition, it locates areas hosting engineering facilities and detects areas with laid geotextile and styrene foam shields. 

LDM laboratories are equipped with the KLUB safety system.

 The operation of the LDM-LR version of the laboratory based on the all-road car LAND ROVER – Defender was successfully demonstrated in 2012 on the test section in Kirchmoser, Germany, and received a positive feedback from the German colleagues.

* Depending on the type of NDT analyzer installed.