Union Pacific Railroad unveiled its new $8.5 million state-of-the-art track inspection vehicle on Friday, EC-5, that will continue to enhance track safety with technology.

Union Pacific now owns two self-propelled track geometry inspection vehicles designed to perform a variety of electronic track inspections at speeds of up to 70 mph. A three-person crew operates the EC-5. It performs inspections six days a week. The vehicle even has a full-size kitchen so meals can be prepared while on the go. In a year, the two geometry vehicles will test miles of track equivalent to more than five times around the earth's equator.

The EC-5 was built in Linz, Austria, by Plasser & Theurer. Ninety feet long, the vehicle has 11 computer systems that gather data from various types of lasers measuring track surface or level, rail wear and tunnel measurements. The on-board computers also use Global Positioning Satellite systems to accurately record and report the location of variances for accurate repairs.

Track maintenance crews follow the inspection vehicle and make repairs as needed when a track defect is found. The real-time data recorded by the EC-5 also is used in scheduling track improvement projects.

These two vehicles join the 22 UP-owned ultrasonic rail-flaw detection vehicles. The ultrasonic vehicles are designed to "look" inside rail to detect flaws unseen by the human eye. An internal flaw may be caused by a poor casting or metal mixture.