Novel conditional tabular generative adversarial network based image augmentation for railway track fault detection

Railway track fault recognition is a critical aspect of railway maintenance, aiming to identify and rectify defects such as cracks, misalignments, and wear on tracks to ensure safe and efficient train operations. Classical methods for fault detection, including manual inspections and simple sensor-based systems, face significant challenges, such as high labour costs, human error, and limited detection accuracy under varying environmental conditions. These methods are often time-consuming and unable to provide real-time monitoring, leading to potential safety risks and operational inefficiencies. To address these challenges, efficient artificial intelligence-based image classification is being explored to enhance railway track fault detection accuracy, efficiency, and reliability. This research aims to develop an advanced generative neural network for efficient railway track fault detection. We propose a novel conditional tabular generative adversarial network (CTGAN)-based image augmentation approach to producing realistic synthetic image data using railway track images. We developed five advanced neural network techniques for comparison with railway track image classification. The random forest approach surpasses state-of-the-art studies with a high accuracy score of 0.99 for railway track fault detection. Hyperparameter optimization is applied to achieve optimal performance, and the performance is evaluated using the k-fold cross-validation approach. The proposed research enhances operational efficiency, reduces maintenance costs, and significantly improves the safety and reliability of rail transportation.