Digital transformation in rail freight transport
25-07-2016
InnoTrans 2016: Expirience how information get together
Compared to the digitally networked fleets of trucks on the road, freight by rail is hardly at the forefront of technology. Nonetheless, railway operating companies do in fact employ many modern IT solutions. Electronic signal boxes allow safe driving with low personnel requirements. Freight trains are weighed as they pass over dynamic weighbridges, which also accurately record flat spots on wheels. Workshops equip vehicles and vehicle components with RFID tags for identification in inventory management. RFID readers confirm whether wagons are in the correct order as the train passes by. Video-supported systems monitor train arrivals and departures. Software packages for integrated rail transport management, such as zedas®cargo and zedas®asset, combine shunting and long-haul traffic logistics with rail infrastructure and vehicle fleet maintenance. Many train drivers now carry tablets for electronic order handling and time and fault reporting. But does all this really amount to a digital transformation? In all these examples, the solutions are just add-ons, implemented as stand-alone projects within a department, division or company, with the primary goal being the quickest return on investment (RoI). Every isolated solution, however, generates a wealth of additional data that, in most cases, go unused.
Want to know more about our solutions, visit our experts from 20th till 23rd of September 2016 at InnoTrans (Berlin, Germany) at City Cube, booth B/201.
Inform yourself preliminary with the current article of Ulrich Lieske, Head of Business Unit System Integration, for Privatbahn Magazin Issue 04/16. He wrote about what digital transformation in rail freight transport means and how you can use it for your own business.
For more details, read the complete article:
- "Digital transformation in rail freight transport - Bringing all the information together"
Privatbahn Magazin, issue 04/16
An overview of our publications can be found here.