TRACK INSPECTING DEVICE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make accurately photographable a rail gap by providing an independent rail tracking mechanism each mounting an image pickup device and a track structure detecting means. SOLUTION: Rear units such as an image process section 32 and a trigger section 43 are mounted on the body 11 of an inspecting/measuring vehicle, and a camera 31 serving as an image pickup device and a laser transmission section 91 and a laser reception section 92 serving as a track structure detecting means are mounted on each rail tracking mechanism 70. The rail tracking mechanisms 70 are provided individually and independently on the right and left. Each time the inspecting/measuring vehicle passes on a rail gap, a joint plate 23 is detected by the laser transmission section 91 and the laser reception section 92. When the trigger section 43 receives this detection signal, it sends a trigger for implementing the image pickup process to the camera 31. The rail gaps are photographed in sequence based on the detection of the joint plates 23, and the image data are sent to the image process section 32 and are applied with recording/display processes, thereby the rail gaps can be accurately photographed.