INNOTRANS: The Resource Sharing Broker digital platform for matching freight operators’ locomotive requirements with leasing companies’ availability has been developed with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of the rail freight sector.
RSB has been developed by Rail-Flow, Fraunhofer IML and BELog to offer daily, weekly or monthly rental of locomotives. The two-year trial is backed with €1·86m from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Digital & Transport.
The partners say the current utilisation of freight locomotives is less than 70%. RSB aims to improve this through the exchange of information about available capacity and needs between leasing companies and operators, and by supporting fast and transparent contract agreements using a fully digital process from request to handover to invoicing.