Intelligent wagons will build on consignment tracking

TELEMATICS Advances in IT and communications technology are opening up opportunities for real-time monitoring of freight movements across Europe and beyond. Dr-Ing Thomas Rieckenberg reports from the EurailTelematics conference in Berlin.

A fully-equipped fleet of intelligent freight wagons, reporting their location, status and consignment details in real time, may seem an impossible dream. But that was the prospect held out by Rainer Wilke, head of business processes and information systems at Railion Deutschland, when he addressed the third EurailTelematics conference in Berlin on April 2. Following successful events in 2005 and 2007, the conference organised by International Railway Technology Consulting and DVV Rail Media attracted around 90 delegates.

Citing the ongoing liberalisation of the transport market, and the replacement in July 2006 of the old RIV rules by the General Contract of Use for Wagons (GCU), Wilke said Railion was looking to the intelligent freight wagon to improve its business processes and drive up productivity, in particular for international traffic flows. He believed this would be essential if the rail sector was to handle successfully the projected growth in freight traffic across Europe over the next 10 to 20 years.

Following last year's acquisition of EWS, Euro Cargo Rail and Transfesa, DB is looking to expand its international rail freight operations throughout Europe and beyond. Wilke explained that this would increasingly require the provision of high-quality data in order to manage effectively the operation and maintenance of a widely-dispersed fleet. Using telematics would also allow the operator to provide added value for its customers, making rail more competitive with other modes, he emphasised.

Building on Railion's six years of practical experience, Wilke revealed that Railion Deutsch­land is planning to roll-out 'intelli­gent wagon' technology across its entire fleet (Fig 1). So far the operator has fitted 14 122 telematic units which provide real-time monitoring of wagon movements against trip plans with guaranteed delivery times (known as EZP), and flag up any emerging deviations from schedule. At the same time, additional benefits can be harnessed from the communications link by adding sensors to detect unauthorised door openings, changes in load weight, excessive shocks and load temperature monitoring where appropriate.

According to Wilke, enhanced information about the status and condition of each vehicle should drive higher productivity through a faster reloading rate, and permit a welcome rationalisation of the fleet. Real-time monitoring will also help to reduce maintenance costs and permit the intro­duction of condition-based rather than periodic preventative maintenance. From the practical perspective, he suggested that operating staff could use the technology to replace various manual tasks when trains are assembled, automatically providing information on the vehicle order, checking the brake system status, performing a train integrity check and giving a more precise calculation of the gross train weight.

Eelco de Jong, Sales Director of Ambient Systems BV, confirmed that his company had experience of selling robust, inexpensive and reliable wireless sensor networks, which can determine the order of wagons in a train and permit wagon lists to be checked easily.

To achieve the best results, Wilke suggested that a Europe-wide, standardised technology would be desirable, going far beyond simply equipping the whole of the Railion wagon fleet. He favoured the development of an open system with standard interfaces, allowing other partners, such as customers, private wagon operators, and even competing train operators, to make use of the same information flows. Such a strategic application would, he believed, bring greater transparency into the productivity of the European rail network, enhancing quality and performance to meet market requirements.

Communications backbone

An essential requirement for the deploy­ment of intelligent wagons is a suitable communications system, and the Chief Innovation Manager of DB Systel Michael Baranek reported progress with the concept development of a virtual trainbus. This is intended to support the roll-out of telematic systems across the Railion fleet, where it has been recognised that the project will only succeed if the sensors are connected to the system using wireless links as far as possible.

Baranek explained that the project targets envisaged the definition of separate radio-based sensor networks at both wagon and train level. This posed tough requirements in terms of the high data rate and the amount of data to be transmitted, the limitations of 24-bit addresses and the safety integrity levels of the radio network. He described the proposed network architecture and the availability of suitable frequency bands.

The issue of wireless transmission of sensor information was also addressed by Wolfgang Windolf, who described the research that Siemens Mobility is undertaking into wireless transmission between the sensors and telematics unit on freight wagons. He discussed the potential problems which can be expected in the selection of frequency bands and how this can influence the network architecture, before reporting positive results from trials with three prototype installations. He concluded that a low-power radio link could be used successfully to transmit data from wagon-mounted sensors to a central data unit. The technology would permit long-term operation with a self-sufficient energy source, and the protocols being tested would fulfil the requirements concerning addressing, data rate and volume, he confirmed. Interference from other radio users would be screened out by higher protocol layers, ensuring a level of security against unauthorised monitoring or sabotage in line with the requirements of EN 50159-2.

Axit AG is providing the supply chain management system for Schenker Automotive Railnet, and Board Member Frauke Heistermann used this as an example of how the company's AX4rail logistics platform can provide comprehensive international tracking for rail users. Carriers, logistic service providers and other partners or subscribers can link their processes and exchange relevant information, because the logistics platform is independent of any single transport mode, she explained.

The system provides a transparent and intuitive advanced warning system which allows users to identify emerging problems before they become serious and to intervene at an early stage where corrective action is required. 'Integration of different partners and interactive workflow management along the supply chain generates a short-term benefit for all users', she concluded.

Railion is not the only operator exploring the benefits of freight wagon telematics, and Dr Joachim Winter of Bombardier Transportation reported on the use of the company's Advanced Train Location & Administration System (Atlas) by SNCB in Belgium. A €14m project was intended to reduce the number of locomotives, cut operating costs by avoiding empty movements, permit the transmission of written information to the driver during the journey and enable the reviewing of location and speed data in the case of any incidents, delays or accidents.

At the same time, SNCB was looking for an improvement in its quality of service by tracking the locomotives and the wagons in their trains on routes across Europe, providing information at stations and on the internet in as near real time as possible. Further potential for improvement was identified in terms of maintenance and vehicle planning. Dr Winter explained the Atlas system and its IT elements in detail and highlighted how the real-time rolling stock management system could form part of a bigger package embracing the company's Interflo train control technology and the Mistral medium-term train planning, timetabling and diagramming package.

Train location

Another critical element in wagon tracking systems is vehicle location, and various companies are testing different approaches to this issue.

Victor Behrends of Eureka Navigation Solution used several examples to address the issue of seamless vehicle location, flagging up the need to use different technologies to ensure continuous and unbroken tracking. Limitations to the use of GPS included situations such as finding a vehicle inside a warehouse, with no visibility of the sky, in gulches between tall buildings, or in other areas with bad coverage.

Katrin Gerlach from the German Aero-space Centre in Braunschweig described the development of a vehicle-based location system for regional railways, for which a prototype is to be tested using a road-rail-vehicle. With satellite-based GNSS systems working to 6 m, this was not felt to be sufficiently accurate to meet the specifications, she explained, so the proposed system architecture will combine different location systems using a digital network card.

Making positioning data easily accessible for end users is also important, and Petr Kroca from Czech supplier Jerid compared conventional rail tracking packages with the self-powered wagon based telematic systems now being developed. Jerid's RailMap displays are able to handle information from both systems, he emphasised, enabling wagon locations to be displayed uniformly throughout Europe. As well as the geographical display, the system can associate individual vehicles with the nearest station using their UIC numbers.

• The NavMaster telematics unit and satellite aerial is mounted on the end of this coil wagon; Railion Deutschland now has more than 14 000 units in operation.
• Greater use of onboard intelligence offers the potential to reduce manual inspections of freight trains.
• Fig 1. Railion's 'intelligent wagon' concept would use a variety of communications links to connect sensors in the vehicles with railway operating systems and customers.

The next EurailTelematics conference will take place in Berlin on March 25 - 26 2009. Further information is available at www.eurailtelematics.com