As an outcome of the CREAM project, the train monitoring solution “Train Monitor” has been developed and implemented within and after the project lifetime.
In 2007, when the CREAM project started, a long-standing deficit in rail transport was the availability of status information to smoothly integrate rail transport into logistics processes. Developments in the previous years had improved the situation e.g., on transalpine corridors. However, all in all the conditions continued to be poor for international rail freight, as on the routes between Western Europe and Southeast Europe. The IT system “Train Monitor” closed existing information gaps by integrating train operation data from numerous sources, showing automatically calculated values for the estimated time of arrival (ETA) and providing a train data base for quality statistics and operation analyses.
Train Monitor is a web-based software system for the monitoring of train movements, developed by Hacon. It is well suited for being used on the entire transport corridor considered by CREAM. Train Monitor has been adapted to the specific needs of Kombiverkehr – one of the biggest combined transport operators in Europe – and integrates information on process steps connected with train handlings inside the transshipment terminals. Thanks to the modular system architecture it can easily be adapted for other operators and railway companies. Train Monitor consists of three functional modules: (1) RealTime for tracking and tracing of currently running trains, (2) HIM Information Manager for exchanging additional operation information and (3) File&View to store data appropriately and to exploit this data for ex-post analysis purposes. Besides this the system enables a multi-client access, backs on a sophisticated user ac-cess management for keeping secured data confidential and supports a number of languages (e.g., German, English, Italian, Slovenian).
Tracking & tracing module (RealTime):
This module compiles and displays all data, received from different data sources, needed to track international train runs in real time. Different viewing options (screens) – all of them automatically refreshed every minute – are provided to support the staff in the transport monitoring and dispatching centres according to their individual needs:
Information management module (Hafas Information Manager HIM):
In addition to the simple tracking of train movements, the system offers a platform for exchanging further train information with the HAFAS Information Manager HIM. For the first time, rail transport providers can
access all relevant operating data using just one software system. The new system helps to keep an overview also in difficult operating situations. This allows operators to achieve competitive transport times with optimal use of resources. Should there, however, be a deviation, their customers will be informed reliably and even earlier with support from Train Monitor. Information to be exchanged with the support of the HIM module can be events relevant for operating a train such as irregularities or wagon detachments. New entries (events) are generated by filling a graphical entry form. This entry will be stored in the database and afterwards published through different distribution channels, which are Train Monitor itself (display in RealTime train overview), notifications to recipients e.g., via email and interfaces to other IT systems.
Statistics module (File&View):
All data on already operated trains is stored in a data base. On this basis it is possible to analyse in detail already operated train runs can be analysed train operations and generate individual quality statistics. Quality statistics can be generated for different trains operating on one route The EDI concept is based on the idea of integrating train operation data from different sources in one system (see Figure). It is thereby making use of train operation data, received from other IT systems of infrastructure operators and train operators – e.g., LeiDis (DB Netz, Germany), Aramis (ÖBB, Austria) and USE- IT (UIC GTC railway operators) –, GPS tracking data of locomotives or wagons and data manually entered into the system. Data from all described sources are stored in a central train run database. This database provides all information needed for the real time transport monitoring, for ex-post transport monitoring and for statistical calculations to determine the estimated time of arrival.
Train Monitor” EDI concept (“The CREAM Project: Technical and operational innovations implemented on a European rail freight corridor”, 07/2012)
During the CREAM project period the system had been piloted and introduced at Kombiverkehr, granting access to specific information/trains to their partners such as new-entrant railway operator Lokomotion (e.g.,
for the route Munich-Ljubljana) and the cooperating intermodal operator Adria Kombi (for the route Ljubljana – Halkali). For demonstration and testing purposes the system was also opened for all interested parties in- and outside CREAM to view the system for a limited period. Today, Train Monitor is exploited by Kombiverkehr’s transport monitoring service team to control the operation of Kombiverkehr’s European train transport network. Monitoring involves train and shipment tracking and thus status queries as to where the loading units are at what point in the transport chain. Customers are informed in case of irregularities (e.g., delays, loading deadline extensions, technical problems, etc.). To provide optimal support, Train Monitor has been further improved in the subsequent years. Train Monitor was one of the first monitoring IT solutions receiving data from Europtirails, the predecessor of RNE TIS. Meanwhile, it is connected to RNE TIS with a TAF/TAP TSI compliant interface. The knowledge and developments for Train Monitor have been also used for other systems such as Hacon’s HAFAS Smart VMS system. Smart VMS is a smart, scalable solution for fleet management, primarily used by rail and public transport operators. Using a platform-independent driver app for smartphones, tablets or on-board computers, the system collects the current vehicle locations in real time, communicates with the control center and transmits the data to various passenger information systems. The Smart VMS system together with the experience in train monitoring and ETA calculations forms the basis for the ETA Management Platform, which has been set up for the ELETA project and which is currently further developed. In relation to Logistics Networks, Train Monitor and related systems have achieved major steps towards full visibility of rail transport operations, which is a prerequirsite for the automation of rail operations and the building of PI based logistics networks.
Expected impacts mainly concern: