UK: Leasing company VTG and rolling stock subsystem manufacturer Knorr-Bremse are undertaking trials with ‘iWagons’; these are vehicles which have been equipped with a range of smart digital technology and components.
The first three iWagons are JPA tank wagons, which have been modified at Tarmac’s Dunbar depot. Further trials will use wagons from the Hanson and Mendip Rail fleets.
Technologies on test include axle lock detection and a patented wheel flat prevention system which monitors wheelset slide and brake condition. Axle-end generators provide power for the wheel flat prevention system, and in the future will power further digital systems supporting digital real-time maintenance, temperature monitoring and harmonics frequency monitoring.
The first wagons went into traffic on October 2, beginning four months of testing on Tarmac’s daily return service from its Dunbar cement plant to a depot at Seaham in County Durham.
Initial data will be available in January, with series deployment on 50 wagons planned for Q2 2024.
Brake condition monitoring will allow VTG to analyse the performance from its office in Bromsgrove, with the final goal of removing annual brake tests. This will also ensure that any defect is highlighted on the day it occurs, and potentially assist Network Rail in identifying low adhesion on the network.
‘The iWagon has been over a decade in development and we are delighted to be at the stage where we can commence country-wide trials of the UK’s first digitalised freight wagon which will enable real-time data to ensure safer railways and better wagon utilisation’, said VTG Rail UK Managing Director Colin Denman on October 5.
‘For the first time, we can see how axles perform on the network in real time and see where adhesion issues are occurring.’
He said locked axles have caused high profile incidents in recent years, and ’digitisation allows us to prevent wheelset damage and axle locks in real time, ensuring multiple parties are given information quickly allowing appropriate corrective action’.
Sanjay Albert, Director of Engineering & Innovation at Knorr-Bremse, said the project is ’part of our mission to combine mechatronic expertise with our digital monitoring capability’.
He added that ’our digital monitoring capability will enable valuable insight generation to support our customers achieve efficient operations and maintenance as well as extent to wider industry benefits’.
