The partners have worked together since 2011, with customers including CP (Photo: Nuno Morão).

EUROPE: UK-based wi-fi technology supplier Nomad Digital has acquired a majority stake in Portuguese national operator CP’s rolling stock maintenance subsidiary EMEF, and formed a joint venture to offer technology for remote condition-based fleet monitoring and energy efficiency management.

The Nomad Tech joint venture will combine Nomad’s fleet connectivity technology with EMEF’s telemanagement systems. This would provide train operators with a real-time fleet-wide view of onboard system performance, and also the analytical tools needed to use this data as the basis of a better-informed and more proactive maintenance strategy.

Nomad Tech will also provide a suite of tools for monitoring energy consumption, driving styles and fuel levels. As well as optimising driving techniques, this could be used to schedule refuelling more accurately and alert control centres to fuel theft.

Nomad Digital and EMEF have worked together since 2011, with customers including CP, UK operators Northern Rail and Southeastern and rolling stock manufacturers Alstom, Hitachi and Siemens.