MBTA Uses Drones to Inspect Bridges, Tunnels, and Tracks Faster and Safer
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is using drones to inspect its bridges, tunnels, and tracks, flying close to piers, girders, and other hard-to-reach structures without putting crews at risk. The drones capture high-resolution imagery and build detailed 3D models of each asset. Engineers use these models to spot wear early and plan repairs. Drone inspections let the MBTA work faster and more safely as it modernizes one of the country's oldest transit systems.
- Well, drones are being used for pretty much
- everything these days, and now the MBTA
- is using them to help inspect its bridges, tunnels, and tracks.
- MBTN- MBTA, [laughs] NBC
- 10's MBTA reporter, there we go. It's a late night around here.
- Jeff Sapperstone got a look at the new eyes in the sky for us.
- It's a story that's all new for you tonight at
- 11:00.
- That's the sound of the MBTA's newest inspector.
- A drone getting into spaces where human eyes may not be able to
- see.
- It's very helpful because you get the, the 3D model so you can figure out where
- an
- issue may be.
- It only takes about eight minutes to do a complete scan of two of the piers
- here on this bridge. It's about 376 images to get that scan.
- This is a job that would normally take about a week to do in
- person. Those images are then stitched together to make a 3D
- model.
- This one was created after the T launched one of its newest drones to inspect
- the piers at the Anderson Rail Bridge in Quincy.
- When you see the images, what are you looking for?
- I'm looking for just anomalies in the, the structure itself, or cracks,
- backed off nuts and bolts. Anything that just looks out of the ordinary.
- How much time has it cut down on, at labor intensive-wise?
- What we could do today, we, probably would've taken us
- potentially a week, right? By the time we set up.
- And now it takes just hours to do an inspection.
- The drones were most recently used during the Orange Line shutdown to get a look at
- the tracks from over the Edward Dana Bridge that crosses the Mystic
- River. It's made Dennis Varley's job a lot
- easier.
- From the standpoint from me, [laughs] this is all my responsibility,
- right?
- So I think it's, uh, I think it's great.
- Varley is the T's chief of stations, facilities, and structures, and says
- the drones have been a critical tool to stay ahead of problems and will
- help shorten repair time and keep those trains moving.
- We try to be proactive, not reactive.
- So this technology really assists in that.
- In Quincy, Jeff Sapperstone, NBC 10 Boston.
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