Method and apparatus for monitoring railway defects

A computer program product for a computer system including a processor, a display, a historical database, and a geographic database, for determining railway defects, the computer system comprising:

• a computer readable memory including;
• code that directs the processor to receive positional data and current status data for a portion of a railway;
• code that directs the processor to retrieve historical status data for the portion of the railway in response to the positional data from the historical database;
• code that directs the processor to compare the historical status data to the current status data to determine a difference in the two sets of data which may indicate a defect occurring over time for the portion of the railway;
• code that directs the processor to retrieve an image of a geographic region in response to the positional data from the geographic database;
• code that directs the processor to determine an icon in response to the defect;
• and
• code that directs the display to display the image of the geographic region and the icon for the defect.

A method for determining railway defects in a computer system including a display, a historical database, and a geographic database, the method comprising:

• receiving positional data and current status data for a rail track;
• retrieving historical status data from the historical database for the rail track in response to the positional data:
• comparing the historical status data to the current status data to determine a difference in the two sets of data which can indicate a defect occurring over time for the rail track, if any, the defect having a defect type;
• displaying an image of a geographic region from the geographic database on the display in response to the positional data;
• and
• displaying an icon on the display in response to the defect type, if any.