Rail technology provider Wabtec Corp. today said it will enter the railcar telematics market next year through an agreement with the Dutch tech firm Intermodal Telematics B.V. (IMT).
Beginning in the first quarter of 2024, Wabtec’s new railcar telematics platform will deliver real-time information to railcar and tank container owners and operators, allowing them to turn rail cargo into smart, connected assets, the Pittsburgh-based company said.
Wabtec railcar telematics will include sensors, gateways, wireless communications, and analytics. The technology will be offered for retrofit on existing fleets and also will make Wabtec's current railcar components smarter by integrating solutions right from production. The new offering will track real-time location and monitor attributes such as handbrakes, hatches, doors, and loaded/unloaded status for a railcar, as well as cargo temperature and pressure for a tank container.
“The rail industry is on the verge of a new era where the use of real-time data about the status and condition of cargo will be transformative to the customer experience and supply chain efficiency,” Nalin Jain, Group President of Digital Intelligence at Wabtec, said in a release. “Telematics builds on Wabtec’s rich history serving the freight car markets with next-generation solutions. Our innovative solutions will improve shipment visibility, increase on-time performance, and expand asset utilization to make shipping freight by rail more competitive.”
The platform is supported by IMT’s technology, which provides telematics services for the tank container and railcar industry, offering connected, smart sensors and a web application with which operators, container manufacturers, lessors, and shippers can obtain the insights they need to improve their delivery performance, operational efficiency, and safety, IMT says.
