France: SNCF launches connected box for freight cars
09.05.2017 France: SNCF launches connected box for freight carsLes Echos, 09 May 2017, online:-
SNCF Logistics, part of French state-owned railway company SNCF, will present a connected box designed for freight cars at a trade fair in Munich on 9 May 2017. It is hoping that the advances in digital technology could revive the sector, which continues to lose market share and is affected by structural difficulties. The box, which can be used to locate the cars and accurately measure the distance travelled, was developed alongside Marseille-based start-up Traxens, which worked on the same issues for the containers used by shipping company CMA CGM. The data collected using these boxes will not only enable businesses to refine the maintenance needs of these cars, it will also simplify the management of the rolling stock. Although other connected rail car technologies are already available, SNCF has stated that its solution gives rise to the very first generation of digital freight trains through the interconnection of the boxes. The group intends to equip 1,000 of its freight cars by the end of 2017 and 5,000 cars by 2019, although the system will only work if all of the train's cars are equipped with the same type of box and so the challenge is to convince companies that have their own fleet of freight cars to adopt the same technology and, more broadly, to introduce the box as a standard solution on a European level.
©M-Brain
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