1
Railroad Streamlines Operations With RFID VR Transpoint Mikko Särkkä, Head of IT, Logistics 2
Finland s leading logistics operator Railroad Logistics Domestic and international Long-standing relations with Russian Railways FTL Logistics FTL conveyance in bulk Warehousing services International Logistics International transports Warehousing 3
VR Transpoint, key figures (2011) Turnover 594.7M Railroad transportations 321.8M Road transportations 277.4M Tonnes ~43.3M (Rail ~34.8M / Road ~8.5M) Personnel ~2500 Premises Finland 85 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Russia 4
VR Group, key figures (2011) Turnover 1400M Personnel ~11400 Number of trains operated per day 450 freight trains 310 long-haul passenger trains 890 commuter trains 10 passenger trains to Russia 5
Table of Contents The solution & standards Using RFID at VR Transpoint s Rail Yard What s next 6
Challenges and objectives VR Transpoint had challenges to manage process with Major part of the work force in car shunting Substantial part of workforce resources in steering the shunting work in rail-yards Manual work took time and possibility of human error was existent VR Transpoint wanted to rationalize this manual process, and the objective was to increase automation level in rail-yard processes 7
To steer rail-yard work & to track 10,000 rail-cars with RFID Operational process changes within rail yards enabled Better management manage of train compositions Better management of rail car location, loading status, car defects & maintenance orders Improved customer service enabled, by delivering detailed information to customers regarding which shipments have arrived, and when 8
Operational process changes Planning & supervising of rail-yard shunting work was centralized & rationalized to few locations in Finland Pen-and-paper work was removed by using PDA devices Real-time information is now at use of internal & external operators The accuracy of information has improved thus manual errors can be avoided 9
What else is possible? New customer applications are being enabled based either on the RFID tags or the on-line information VR can interphase customers with wagon arrival information to end-station & delivery information real-time Customers can interphase VR in order to send shunting orders Physical tags can also be read and information can be used independently by customers 10
RFID Applications for railroads Fixed track-side RFID-readers at rail-yards and at terminals at depot rails at the network Applications Flat wheel detectors Wheel profile equipment Hot Axle Detectors Demurrage automation Mobile work steering system the rolling stock is identified as a part of the shunting work 11
In the beginning challenge was to find correct global standard for the RFID system Guide lines at EU level railroad sector regulations were out-dated After a dialogue with other railway organizations of European countries, VR Transpoint decided to implement GS1 EPC standard Our selection of standard: EPC Gen2 / ISO 18000 6-C (passive-rfid) with GS1 Global Individual Asset identifier (GIAI) number 12
Table of Contents The solution & standards Using RFID at VR Transpoint s Rail Yard What s next 13
RFID project started at 2009 Today 100 % of the rolling stock is equipped with the RFID tags (10,000 freight cars & locomotives included) Handheld RFID-PDAs are in production use in the rail yards First customer application projects with the fixed track-side reader on-going RFID use in other rolling stock applications wheel profile measurement & car-washing tracking 14
15
Working in real time at rail-yards With the support RFID tags and the RFID-PDAs we can use the old mainframe transportation & train management systems directly at rail yards Less manual work Real time information for the all users of the systems Enabled operational change & saving in manpower (less operational steering offices) 16
Functionalities build in PDAs read and report shunting orders read and update the train composition read, update and report wagon defects report wagon restrictions to the system report all wagon movements & locations check reports train ready for departure 17
Train information Reporting shunting Checking train 18
19
Table of Contents The solution & standards Using RFID at VR Transpoint s Rail Yard What s next 20
New developments since GO-LIVE Fixed RFID track-side readers, projects ongoing or starting At customer location, automating wagon movement tracking At railroad hump yard, automating/ensuring wagon groups for the hump 21
New developments Passenger traffic Hand-held RFID-PDA taken into use at some rail-yard Washing application for passenger cars Maintenance Rolling stock condition monitoring enabled with automatic identification of vehicles 22
23
24