GERMANY: The Digital Inspection by Machine Intelligence project has been launched to automate and accelerate the manual wagon inspection process which need to be undertaken before an intermodal train can leave a terminal.
The aim is to use sensors, cameras and AI to make wagon and load parameters available in real-time via an app, significantly reducing the time it takes a wagon inspector to carry out safety checks.
Intermodal technology company CargoBeamer is the project manager, responsible for terminal construction, automation and the sensors. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow & Logistics is providing expertise in artificial intelligence and software. The SGKV non-profit combined transport research association is undertaking process analysis and internal project management.
The project is backed with €1m from the Federal Ministry for Digital & Transport’s Future Rail Freight Transport programme. Completion is scheduled for mid-2026.
‘The wagon inspection process in its current form offers enormous potential for improvement and digitalisation to achieve higher throughput rates and greater efficiency’, said CargoBeamer Chief Technology Officer Hans-Jürgen Weidemann on July 23. ‘In the medium term we want to carry out a wagon inspection in under 60 min instead of several hours — an important step towards promoting the competitiveness of rail over road.’
