USA: Association of American Railroads subsidiary Railinc and Duke University’s Christensen Family Center for Innovation are to collaborate to explore how AI, mobile devices and ‘social media-style technologies’ could improve the efficiency and billing of wagon repairs.
Railinc said the hundreds of conditional rules designed to ensure safe operation often result in mechanical teams spending a significant amount of time referencing lengthy manuals and correcting paperwork errors.
To address this, it has developed CarLogix, an intelligent application that guides staff through the repair recording process and checks the records against industry rules in real time.
However, there are challenges for teams performing minor repairs outside of traditional workshops when access to computers is limited, which the work with the university now aims to address.
‘This collaboration with Duke University is about bringing together innovation, academia, and industry to strengthen the rail network’, said Railinc President & CEO Allen West on September 25. ‘We are excited to partner with students at Duke on this project and look forward to developing solutions that will improve railcar recording and accuracy — a critical need for the freight rail industry.’
