Five Plasser & Theurer units now offer track diagnostics under one brand
Plasser & Theurer has placed track measuring and inspection know-how from five group companies, including Turin-based DMA and Plasser American, under a single Plasser Diagnostics brand.
The new brand is meant to give railway construction companies and infrastructure managers one contact for track diagnostics. Its offer runs from single measuring and testing systems to equipment packages for track recording vehicles and complete inspection vehicles. Inspection services and data analysis are also part of the range, as set out in the Plasser & Theurer press release on the new brand.
Five group companies behind Plasser Diagnostics
The brand’s website lists the group units whose know-how it pools. DMA contributes advanced measuring and inspection technology, Rail Track Analyzer (RTA) adds ground-penetrating radar and condition analysis, and tmc brings measuring systems for yellow-fleet machines together with data modelling. Plasser Italiana covers box cars, container wagons and measuring bogies as well as the integration of equipment into vehicles, while Plasser American provides rail testing experience, including its RailEcho ultrasonic technology.
Inside the group, the work is divided. Plasser & Theurer designs and manufactures the machines and inspection vehicles themselves, and Plasser Diagnostics supplies the measuring and testing technology they carry. The imprint of the Plasser Diagnostics website names DMA S.r.l. in Turin as media owner, while an Austrian office in Vienna and Linz and a German office in Munich are listed as coming soon.
Johannes Max-Theurer, CEO of Plasser & Theurer, described the step this way: “With Plasser Diagnostics, we’re consolidating our expertise in measuring and testing under one shared responsibility.”
RailEcho moves beyond North America
One change named by the company concerns ultrasonic rail testing. In an interview in the group’s today magazine, Plasser Diagnostics managing director Stefan Damm said Plasser American had used Plasser RailEcho for years in its testing services in North America. The group now supplies it as complete systems in Europe and Asia. Damm said the technology lays the groundwork for early defect detection and, together with automated optical defect detection, improves infrastructure safety. The interview names no customers or delivery dates.
From measuring runs to maintenance priorities
The portfolio covers high-precision measurement of track geometry and position, video and radar technology, non-destructive ultrasonic rail testing and turnout measurement under load and dynamic forces. Depending on the task and the vehicle configuration, the systems record infrastructure condition at anything from standstill to more than 300 km/h. They can work in regular service, in gaps between scheduled trains, on transfer runs of yellow-fleet machines or during possessions.
| System | What it measures or detects |
|---|---|
| Plasser InertialGeometry | High-precision track geometry measurement before and after works, with no minimum measuring speed |
| Plasser TurnoutGeometry | Laser-based, contact-free measurement of turnouts and crossings under load |
| Plasser RailScan | Contact-free laser profile measurement of rails and conductor rails, including wear, gradient and rail type |
| Plasser CatenaryView | Video check of the contact between pantograph and contact wire on overhead lines, flagging anomalies |
| Plasser RailEcho | Integrated ultrasonic system that finds rail defects without damaging the rail |
The five named systems cover track geometry, turnouts, rail profiles, overhead lines and internal rail defects. The list reflects the systems shown in the Plasser & Theurer press release on the new brand and is not the full portfolio.
Readings from the different systems are then combined to show which defects are safety-relevant, how wear develops and which maintenance jobs should come first. Plasser & Theurer says real-time analysis and AI-based detection deliver part of this information during the measuring run itself. Damm told the magazine that measuring and image data are pre-processed at chip level on board the vehicle.
Damm explained the thinking behind the brand in the same interview: “These days, our customers no longer expect individual measuring systems, but integrated diagnostic solutions.” The company links the move to busier networks, shorter track possessions and rising demands for availability and safety.
The group’s worldwide machine fleet is meant to serve as a further data source. Maintenance machines fitted with the right systems can refresh condition data more often and feed predictive maintenance. Damm said any of the group’s track maintenance machines could collect such data once equipped with diagnostic systems.
For customers, the group says product, service and after-sales questions will in future go through one contact, backed by its worldwide sales and service network. The new brand was scheduled for presentation on the Plasser & Theurer stand in Hall 26 at InnoTrans 2026 in Berlin, which ran from 22 to 25 September.
