Train event recorder

A train event recorder – also called On-Train Monitoring Recorder (OTMR), On-Train Data Recorder (OTDR), Event Recorder System (ERS), Event Recorder Unit (ERU), or Juridical Recording Unit (JRU) – is a device that records data about the operation of train controls, the performance of the train in response to those controls, and the operation of associated control systems. It is similar in purpose to the flight data recorder or black box used on aircraft.

Because event recorders are integrated with most car-borne systems, they are an attractive target for enhanced diagnostic and control functions. Some event recorders feature outputs controlling penalty braking or emergency braking systems, as well as speedometers.

Data storage can be provided by magnetic tape, battery-backed RAM and, more recently, non-volatile EEPROM or flash memory, overwritten in a FIFO continuous loop. The data is intended for use in the investigation of accidents and other incidents, but is also used to monitor the performance of traction units, the competence of drivers, and the general state of a train over a period of time.

A suggestion in The Times of 10 October 1853, commenting on a train collision near Portarlington station, on the Great Southern and Western Railway, on 5 October that year, called for a paper-roll recorder, keeping a log of wheel revolutions against time, to be carried in a locked box on trains, the record to be removed and stored by station masters at the destination station. In 1864, a similar proposal came from Charles Babbage, inspired by his 1840 experiments for the Great Western Railway using self-inking pens on paper rolls, which were part of the equipment carried on dynamometer cars. No action seems to have been taken in either case. The earliest event recorders were the mechanical "TEL" speed recorders of 1891, which recorded both time and speed. The TEL's manufacturer, Hasler Rail of Switzerland, remains a leading producer of train event recorders.

France developed the Flaman Speed Indicator and Recorder. In Germany, the Indusi train protection system included recording equipment using a ticker tape on paper. For I60R a generalized recorder system was installed (Datenspeicherkassette [DSK] / data storage cassette) that allowed for the entry of the train number, driver information and train weight, along with the driving events. The standardized DSK black box allows for approximately 30,000 km of general recording data and 90 km of detailed recording data. Later models of the DSK are electronic especially since the introduction of the computerized PZ80/PZB90 train protection generations.^{[citation needed]}

Modern train event recorders follow international or national standards, such as IEEE Std. 1482.1-1999, FRA 49 CFR Part 229, and IEC 62625-1, specified the digital and analogue data to be acquired, recorded and transmitted for further analysis.^{[citation needed]} The need for event recorders to survive any accident led companies such as Grinsty Rail (UK), Faiveley (France), Hasler Rail (Switzerland), Bach-Simpson (Canada), Saira Electronics (Italy) (previously FAR Systems), and MIOS Elettronica (Italy) to develop crash-protected memory modules as a part of their event recorders.^{[citation needed]} Those new-generation event recorders are in growing demand both for rapid transit systems and mainline trains.^{[failed verification]}

Canadian regulations provide in the "Locomotives Design Requirements (Part II)"

U.S. regulations define event recorders as follows: (CFR 49 Ch II 229.5):