Patent ID: 8190377

Claim:
A method for inspecting a rail system comprising: operating a monitor vehicle over one or more rails of said rail system; directing non-destructive, electromagnetic energy from a first sensor of said monitor vehicle at said one or more rails; determining a physical rail integrity based on analysis of a reflection of said directed non-destructive energy from a solitary one of said one or more rails, wherein the reflection has bounced off of the surface of the one or more rails and returned to the monitor vehicle without entering the one or more rails; measuring a temperature of said one or more rails by a second sensor on said monitor vehicle; transmitting said determined physical rail integrity and said temperature to a data collection point; directing non-destructive energy from a third sensor of said monitor vehicle at a power line of said rail system; determining a physical power line integrity based on analysis of said directed non-destructive energy; and transmitting said determined physical power line integrity along with said determined physical integrity and said temperature.