Rail Cargo Group reaches milestone in equipping wagons with telematics
For the past three years, Rail Cargo Group, a freight division of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), has been equipping its wagon fleet with SmartCargo, the telematics solution that will allow the railway undertaking to better monitor its wagons and plan their maintenance. At the moment, the Austrian operator has reached an important milestone in this process.
In cooperation with A1 and A1 Digital, Rail Cargo Group (RCG) has reached the 11,000 mark for equipping its wagons with SmartCargo. The Austrian national rail freight operator has been equipping its wagons with the new solution since 2019. SmartCargo is a position, movement and impact sensor that enables GPS monitoring of the vehicles and allows RCG to significantly improve maintenance operations of its wagon fleet. In July 2022, the 11,000 mark was reached for wagons equipped with SmartCargo while the target is around 12,000.
Towards intelligent freight trains
SmartCargo is equipped with position detection, motion sensing and shock detection. RCG, together with A1, is gradually putting intelligent freight trains on track throughout Europe thanks to the additional development of an IT platform. Live data such as location, movement data and temperature are delivered in real-time to the Cumolocity platform, where all information about the freight wagons or assets can be accessed digitally in a clear and compact manner.
The position data obtained from the SmartCargo devices particularly helps to optimise maintenance and a move toward mileage-dependent maintenance intervals. In addition, damage to the freight wagon can be detected quickly and improvements regarding equipment handling can be proactively discussed with the involved parties. If there is no network coverage, the data is temporarily stored and is then sent when a signal is next available.