GERMANY: The DB Cargo management board has approved a ‘high double-digit million’ programme to fit its entire German wagon fleet with tracking, monitoring and telematics equipment.
More than 1 000 wagons are currently equipped with telematics, a further 19 000 are scheduled to be retrofitted by the end of 2018, and the remaining 50 000 vehicles would follow by 2020.
The GPS would enable more precise determination of arrival times, while monitoring equipment would provide information about the wagon’s loading status, internal temperature and humidity.
‘In a world of ever-increasing digitalisation, today's customers expect a high level of service’, said DB Cargo CEO Dr Roland Bosch on February 27. ‘They want to know, in real time, where their freight is, when it will arrive and what condition it is in. This is why we are retrofitting our entire fleet with digital technology.’
DB Cargo will also fit its entire German fleet with quieter brakes by 2020. Around two-thirds of the fleet has already been converted, and a further 11 000 wagons are to be converted this year.
‘We want to offer a digital, low-noise wagon fleet which shows our customers how serious we are about performance, and which ultimately helps shift more traffic to rail’, explained Bosch.
