Mainline railways were historically – and many still are – controlled by a wide range of national signalling systems. In the mid 1990s, when cross-border locomotives and multiple units were introduced, the need arose for a unified European signalling and communications system to replace the old ones.

This took the name of European Train Control System (ETCS) and was enhanced by GSM-R communications technology to become the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), maintaining the same block system philosophy in which trains are separated by fixed blocks with lengths that are at least as long as the braking distance of trains running on the line.

This leads to intervals between trains that are longer than the necessary safe distance between them, which is determined by the braking distance between the moving end of the 1st train and the front of the 2nd plus a safety margin.

This is called “moving block” or “ETCS Level 3” and has been discussed for decades, but there is no concrete implementation in view for the next years or even decades. It is needed above all on densely trafficked lines such as major parts of the Scandinavian – Mediterranean and the North Sea – Rhine – Mediterranean TEN-T corridors and specific bottlenecks around Lyon, Île-de-France and the Baltic capitals. Awaiting infrastructure upgrades, a special focus should therefore be placed on increasing capacity at the bottlenecks.

Much has changed since the eighties

Since ETCS development, IT has rapidly advanced. Processor speeds are ~10,000x faster, and mobile data transmission went from 0.2 to 10,000 Mbit/s. While slow, unreliable data transmission doomed 1980s remote brake monitoring attempts, this is no longer an issue. Despite this, rail infrastructure managers plan to spend decades implementing the expensive and already dated ETCS across Europe, with full rollout anticipated a century after its initial introduction.

Implementing ETCS could be a suboptimal solution. New and more advanced signalling systems are available. Some rely on fixed signalling installations and some do not require them. Examples include the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) TrainCAS, a decade-old train-to-train communication system operating successfully on the Harzer Schmalspurbahn with potential for SIL4 upgrade even in dense fog at high speed.

The French Urbanloop, developed by University of Lorraine students, is a small, AI-assisted urban transport facility using pods that follow each other closely, localised by passive lineside beacons, and has been operating in Paris.

Ecotrain, also in France, is developing a solution for driverless trains on secondary lines to exchange data with level crossings to prevent collisions. Given that modern cars have sophisticated control systems for collision avoidance and autonomous driving (see the image above), it is unclear why simple ETCS train equipment costs hundreds of thousands of euros, when a complete Urbanloop pod or a high-tech car costs only a few thousand. See the price comparison in the graph:

To maximise railway capacity (after prioritising safety, switch control, timetable adherence, and energy efficiency), the signalling system is crucial. It must accurately track the position, direction, and speed of every train within its area. This essential information enables the safe organisation and optimisation of all train operations.

📌 Possibilities for Train Localisation and Safe Operation (click to expand)

A number of possibilities for the determination of the location and provision of safe operation of a train have been used or can be used. All have their own drawbacks when it comes to precise and at the same time reliable positioning.

• Track circuits for positioning and train integrity supervision.
• Axle counters for positioning and train integrity supervision.
• Fixed electric contact shoes for triggering braking.
• Electromagnetic solenoids for triggering braking.
• Continuous lineside data transmission antennae for positioning and speed control.
• Discrete lineside balises for positioning and speed control.
• Discrete passive lineside tags for positioning.
• Radio connection for speed control.
• Satellite-based positioning (GPS, Galileo, Starlink).
• Wheel revolution supervision for positioning and speed and acceleration/deceleration measurements.
• Odometry for positioning and speed and acceleration/deceleration measurements.
• Local earth magnetic field variations.

As there is now a sufficient number of different independent localisation methods available – each with varying technologies, safety certifications (up to SIL4), availability, and reliability – moving block operation (where trains dynamically adjust their spacing based on real-time data) becomes feasible. This is where we can start to think about alternatives to ETCS.

An idea for a better alternative to ETCS

A proposed signalling system should rely on three of these three localisation methods. Normal operation of trains at maximum speed and minimum headway shall be allowed if all three systems produce matching information. Trains will still be able to operate when two systems agree but the third differs. Speed and headway will then be set to values that depend on which systems are in line with each other.

If all three systems give diverging information, trains will not be allowed to run except at low-speed emergency level (typically “on sight”, probably with a maximum speed of 30-40 km/h) through secured human authority procedures.

Railways are systems and the interaction between their subsystems must be managed. It is therefore also imperative to talk about the detection of train completeness, i.e. loss of wagons. These must be secured by on-train equipment depending on the type of train.

For trains coupled with standard “screw” couplings, it is a fact that today no solution for SIL4 train integrity detection exists for serial operation even if several demonstrations have already proven some kind of feasibility. Therefore, a certain level of redesign of freight trains (and adaptations to passenger trains) will be needed, likely by equipping freight trains with electric power and digitalising them.

It is possible to quite quickly introduce such a modern highly responsive IT-based system to allow train operation under moving block conditions and thus increase line capacity, mainly for freight trains. This could allow a drastic cost reduction for signalling systems.

It could eliminate the need for many of the expensive lineside elements and their cabling, such as track circuits and axle-counters, beacons (balises) that require frequent inspection and maintenance and that are prone to meteorologic impacts and vandalism.

It will also lead to a reduction in the number of interlockings and control centres. In combination with other improvements in infrastructure, terminals and rolling stock design, it will entail a substantial boost at a fraction of the cost of ETCS. It must be designed in such a way as to allow a gradual introduction in mixed operation with ETCS or another legacy system. As long as other trains operate nearby under a traditional signalling in mixed operation, trains that are equipped with the new system must run according to the rules of that system.

Years, not decades

Modern trainborne IT technologies, which require no extensive fixed infrastructure, can be implemented as an overlay and eventual replacement for legacy signalling systems. This approach facilitates a rapid transition to moving block operation on critical bottlenecks. As a result, significant improvements and cost reductions for freight lines can be realised within years, rather than decades.

To ensure an effective improvement of rail transport, political support is mandatory. Politicians should not only suggest but also finance the ideas and transform them into legal instruments. The railway sector at all hierarchy levels should take benefit from new developments in the aerospace and automobile industries. But the full impact on capacity will only materialise if synergies with parallel improvements in logistics, infrastructure design and maintenance, energy supply and freight train design are integrated.

Do you want to share your view? You can reach out to the RailFreight.com editorial team, or to Reinhard Christeller via the button below. You can also leave a comment.

These challenges aren’t anyone’s fault—they’re the day-to-day reality for many terminals. But until the silos separating these activities are broken down, marine and rail terminals will have a difficult time optimising their operations for better cost-efficiency, performance, and customer service.

At Tideworks, we’ve seen terminals both small and large address these constraints by prioritising data connectivity across their disparate technologies and systems.

Read on for our perspective on how better connectivity and data flow can improve communication and efficiency across your day-to-day operations, as well as our recommendations for creating these connections between your systems and your terminal operating system (TOS).

The case for data connectivity in marine and rail terminals

Data connectivity within your terminal environment gives every arm of operations the freedom to function and communicate without the constraints of data silos, workflow disruptions, and inflexible software architecture. It achieves this by replacing rigid, one-size-fits-all integration models with a modular data platform approach—or one composed of individual modules that are interconnected.

A modular platform offers two key benefits for terminal operators. First, they enable scalable, flexible integration across terminal, partner, and enterprise systems, which makes it faster and more cost-effective to add new software or equipment to your terminal’s digital ecosystem. With minimised disruption and development costs, your terminal can easily keep its digital ecosystem up-to-date with the latest and greatest technologies.

Second, a modular data platform ensures future compatibility and guards against obsolescence. True data connectivity establishes common standards for connectivity that reduce the risk of a connection suddenly failing because an equipment manufacturer changed their application programming interface (API) without informing your terminal.

The importance of data connectivity in improving terminal-wide operations

Day-to-day terminal operations are like a never-ending theatre production: Just as actors, directors, lighting, sets, and props must all work in constant collaboration with one another, terminals operate at their best when different systems and processes are able to communicate and minimise friction within the environment.

When communication and data flow fail, terminals suffer from unproductive lifts, workflow bottlenecks, and other inefficiencies that increase operating costs, reduce throughput, and frustrate your customers.

But internal connectivity is only part of the solution. Terminals also benefit from data connectivity that can reach beyond their physical environment to connect with outside customers, vendors, and other external systems. With real-time data flow between your TOS and external sources, terminals can achieve connectivity that delivers a measurable business impact in many forms.

Lift operators can prioritise container moves for trucks already waiting in the yard, improving customer service and speeding up turn times. Within the terminal yard itself, accurate data is critical. A misplaced container, or an inventory discrepancy, for example, can quickly throw operations off track. Terminal staff may be forced to stop planned work and instead reconcile inventory to locate the missing container, slowing throughput and wasting valuable time.

“The faster you can surface the right data to operations, the faster you can reduce these errors and avoid costly rehandles,” Subbu Bhat, VP of Software Engineering at Tideworks, says. “Data should be accessible through flexible interfaces, allowing terminal operators and partners to easily plug in, extract insights, and make faster, better decisions.”

The three types of data integration every terminal should consider

Achieving true data connectivity requires integration of your operational systems as well as all relevant partner, customer, enterprise, and financial systems.

Here’s a look at the three critical types of data integrations terminals will need to realise their digitalisation goals:

Terminal and partner systems integration

Terminal and partner systems represent your facility’s full spectrum of operations, which can include gate automation, OCR, WMS, and other third-party tools.

A terminal operating system (TOS) functions as the central nervous system for these integrations, using connectivity standards to reduce friction between the technology required to orchestrate complex terminal operations—including partner systems that are part of your network.

“There are a lot of dependencies to what goes on within the terminal,” says Bhat. “When you’re able to reduce internal friction according to those connectivity standards, it can have an effect on how quickly you’re able to move containers in your terminal, as well as the costs you incur on those containers.”

Reliable, high-quality integrations are a prerequisite to acquiring the clean, real-time data terminals needed to achieve true connectivity across both your terminal and the broader supply chain ecosystem. Once your terminal can provide interfaces that offer accurate, cleansed, and governed data in near-real time, it allows your ops teams, customers, and outside partners to plug and play into that data, turning terminal connectivity into tangible business value.

Customer data integration

Data integration with customers enables terminals to provide better communication and service around container availability, status, and shipment ETAs. With access to real-time updates, customers on the receiving end of shipments can coordinate their own on-the-ground operations for more efficient cargo flow into warehouses and distribution centres.

Tideworks’ TOS, for example, provides customers with standard API integrations allowing them to automate data sharing for improved visibility. Those customers can then automate their own data sharing with BCO partners while also reducing manual processes and improving service predictability across their operations.

Customer data integrations ultimately reduce shipping bottlenecks while improving the customer’s relationship with their own BCO partners. This improved transparency can improve cost-efficiencies for the customer while enabling them to handle increased shipping volumes.

Enterprise and financial systems integration

Sitting above your operational integrations are the enterprise and financial systems that make up your terminal’s corporate tech stack. These include ERPs, planning tools, company-level financial software, and third-party integrations with customs and tax authorities.

Enterprise-level integrations typically use either electronic data interchange (EDI) or APIs to connect. When these enterprise-level connections are underpinned by a modern data platform, they can further enhance data flow between your systems by managing and optimising data from your TOS—providing 360-degree, near real-time visibility into all operational data across your corporate network.

This unified architecture can ultimately enable greater enterprise data strategies across your terminal. By centralising management of enterprise and operational metrics, terminals can improve their operational efficiency, control operating costs, and increase revenue and profits from their day-to-day activities.

3 best practices for better data connectivity between your systems and TOS

Great data connectivity doesn’t start with technology acquisitions. It starts with the right strategic principles, setting a foundation for digital change that translates into positive business value.

Here are three best practices we recommend:

Incremental value is the goal

For terminals in the early stages of digitalisation, true data connectivity is going to take some time to achieve. And that’s okay. In fact, that slow-and-steady approach is what Tideworks recommends to its customers.

“I would be wary of anyone putting forward a black-box solution and saying, ‘This will solve all the ills of the terminal,’” says Bhat. “It’s wishful thinking, and it’s going to have costly consequences for any terminal implementing that technology and trying to enable it without knowing what the results are going to be.”

Tideworks’ Mainsail and IPRO solutions are built for this incremental approach, equipping marine and rail terminals with a modern TOS that is flexible and adaptable to your data connectivity needs.

See for yourself—request a demo today.

Robot inspectors

On the other side of China, in the north, robots are making their debut in the world of Chinese rail freight. They help in wagon inspections, with a success rate of 100% for “common faults”.

The robots are not replacing manual labour entirely, however. For now, the system combines robot inspections with manual verification and cloud-based diagnostics. It primarily helps in reducing human error and labour intensity. Over a 24-hour period, the robots can speed up wagon inspections by 30 minutes for 108 wagons. Robot systems are also already in use for high-speed passenger rolling stock, according to Chinese media.

Gold had an important message to get across: Be serious about innovating. “Blockbuster was once the leading company in movie rentals. They should have been Netflix, but failed to look ahead.” Co-speaker Chad Van Derrick from Tideworks noted that Blockbuster once even had the chance to buy Netflix, but squandered that opportunity.

‘Look ahead into the future’

The anecdote is supposed to be a warning to rail freight companies. “Just because things seem to be going good now in terms of technology, it does not mean that you should not be looking ahead”, says Gold. “Talk to start-ups, because if you don’t know that they exist, you can’t even make use of their ideas.”

The key message: One of your competitors will innovate, so don’t fall behind. Even if rail freight is a relationship-centered business, it will need to go along with technological advancements.

Road versus rail

The same is true for competition across modalities. Rail freight can now count itself lucky that it can legitimately claim to be the greenest mode of transportation. However, David Krüger from the German Aerospace Center stresses that trucks will be electrified at some point, and so rail freight will lose its edge. “Rail freight is sort of seen as the saviour for transport and sustainability”, he says. But that will not last forever.

However, Krüger also sees that people in the sector are generally open to ideas. But when talking about money, certifications, regulations and implementation of changes, the sector is slow and conservative. There is a challenge to be overcome here, which could be needed to secure the future of the industry.

The system is not without its faults, however. It requires a lot of manual maintenance, as the screws that keep the magnets in their place need to be checked to prevent them from getting loose. That is an especially difficult process, according to Swedish media, because there are long stretches of constantly busy rail.

A new technology

Now, a new technology is looking to reduce the need for physical presence on the bridge to check the magnets. A system developed by the company Strainlabs is supposed to monitor the dust-removing magnets as part of a pilot project. The product includes special bolts, a signalling system and accompanying software.

“There are many screws on the plant – not only on the railway but in large structures, bridge bearings, underground pumps and more – connections that are constantly exposed to vibrations, weather and wind. This is an important evaluation step of how reliable the data is and we look forward to following the pilot project. We are open to testing new innovations at our facility, which, according to our experience, often results in a win-win”, comments a representative of the bridge.

A research team created China’s first “smart heavy-haul railway transportation paradigm”, which works with a centralised station control system and an intelligent driving system, Chinese media write. Safety monitoring supposedly takes place not only from the ground, but also from the air and space.

As the “Digital Inspection by Machine Intelligence” (DIMI) project is still in its initial stages, a lot remains unclear. This includes the implementability of the system to be developed. “The goal is to make this technology widely available, that is our vision”, the CargoBeamer spokesperson says. “But as an R&D project, we cannot say exactly what we will have by the end.”

Automatic wagon inspection in under 60 minutes

Nevertheless, the goal remains to significantly speed up wagon inspection procedures. “We want to carry out a wagon inspection in under 60 minutes instead of several hours in the medium term – an important step towards promoting the competitiveness of rail over road”, CargoBeamer’s chief technology officer says in a press release.

The cooperation between the three companies combines their expertise from various fields. CargoBeamer provides knowledge in terminal construction, automation and sensor technology. Fraunhofer IML has the know-how in artificial intelligence and software, and SGKV is responsible for project management and process analysis.

“Both Fraunhofer IML and SGKV benefit from past projects that have researched and advanced the automation and digitalisation of individual tasks of the wagon master”, CargoBeamer says. “This holistic approach is intended to significantly accelerate the wagon inspection process as part of the DIMI project.”

Completion in 2026

The DIMI project is part of Germany’s federal program ‘Future Rail Freight Transport’ (‘Zukunft Schienengüterverkehr’). It receives funding from the German federal transport ministry of around 1 million euros. With a total duration of 27 months, it is scheduled for completion in summer 2026.

Monitors wheel slip and brake condition

VTG hope they may have to do little more than test the validity of the key safety features. Up for proving in this real-world trail are axle lock detection systems and wheel flat prevention technology. Both are common issues and sometimes can have serious consequences, such as the disastrous Llangennech derailment. The patented wheel flat prevention system monitors wheel slip and brake conditions, while new wheelsets equipped with axle generators provide power for the wheel flat prevention system and future digital innovations such as real-time maintenance tracking and temperature monitoring.

The wagons have been in service since the beginning of October. The four-month testing period on Tarmac’s daily return service between Dunbar in the south east Scotland and Seaham in County Durham in north east England will expose the rolling stock to a variety of conditions, including high speed running on the East Coast Main Line. Initial trial data is expected to be available in January 2024, ahead of plans to introduce the first 50 production-ready wagons in the second quarter of the same year.

Combine mechatronic expertise with digital monitoring

The iWagons derive power through axle generators and have the ability to manage wheelset slides in low-adhesion conditions – which sounds rather like the anti-lock brakes fitted to modern cars. The iWagon’s WFP system, while preventing a raft of safety and maintenance issues, also provides real time communication with the driver, and back to base. There’s also a Bluetooth capability for improved wagon condition assessment while still on the tracks. “Tarmac is one of the biggest users of rail freight in the country”, said Chris Swan, Head of Rail at Tarmac, who are among the leading advocates of rail freight operations. “The digitisation of the rail fleet sector will bring important performance and safety benefits, and so trials like this one with our partners in VTG and Knorr-Bremse are vital for the continued growth of rail freight.”

The collaboration between VTG Rail UK and Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems UK could open up the rail freight industry in Britain to a new level of technological intervention. “Working in collaboration with VTG Rail UK is very exciting for us at Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems UK”, said Sanjay Albert, Director of Engineering and Innovation at Knorr-Bremse. “[It is] part of our mission to combine mechatronic expertise with our digital monitoring capability. Our patented Wheel Flat Prevention technology increases wheel life and reduces potential deep wheel flats which may result in track damage, or in worst cases, derailment.  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.”

One of the largest industrial sectors

According to the 3Squared whitepaper, the proliferation of rail freight in recent years is not to be underestimated. The document quotes the Rail Delivery Group, the overall industry operators association, who estimate that rail freight contributes 2.45 billion pounds (nearly three billion euros) to the UK economy annually. It goes on to say that logistics overall is one of the largest industrial sectors worldwide, worth a staggering 8.43 trillion US dollars in 2021. Rail, says the report, is a vital mode of transport for moving commodities on behalf of practically every part of the UK economy every day.

To showcase the increasing importance of freight and the intrinsic role that technology will inevitably play in its evolution, 3Squared backed up their whitepaper with a launch at Southampton, a port location that has already embraced technological innovation. 3Squared took the opportunity to demonstrate further their ‘PathPlanner’ computerised solution, which they say helps to improve utilisation of existing capacity radically and is aimed directly at rail freight operators. Utilising seven years of historical data and a machine learning algorithm, PathPlanner seeks out unused paths across the network, unlocking capacity and generating new opportunities for the rail freight sector.

Intrinsic part of modern freight operations

The port operators at Southampton, DP World, have been quick to embrace rail freight opportunities. The company has strengthened connections with its London terminal and recently launched an incentive programme, encouraging carriers to switch to rail. Using that unidentified capacity says 3Squared in their whitepaper, helps to transport more goods sustainably, building on the untapped opportunities of the rail freight network.

The importance of digitalisation in rail freight for improving day-to-day operations is emphasised in the whitepaper. “Not so long ago, only office-based staff in the freight industry would be able to access systems online”, said Martin Gleadow, Head of Customer Success at 3Squared. “It helps to speed up operations across the network and reduces personnel costs. Depot-based staff can now obtain up-to-date digital information to perform their jobs more easily and efficiently. These changes have been reflected in wider attitudes to technology within the sector, with IT no longer seen as an add-on, but as an intrinsic part of running a modern freight operation.”

The test was operated in Nowa Sarzyna in Poland. According to Nevomo, the 6-metre-long railway vehicle weighing two tons “went from 0 to 100 km/h in 11 seconds” on a track that stretches more than 700 metres long. “For the first time in railway history, a rail vehicle moved not on the existing tracks, but over them, without friction”, commented Przemek Ben Paczek, CEO and Co-Founder of Nevomo.

Given further investments, passenger trains could operate at 550 km/h in the future. However, this will not apply to rail freight where “120 to 160 km/h is enough for the next decade”, according to what Stefan Kirch, CBDO at Nevomo, told RailFreight.com in a previous interview. The MagRail technology has attracted much attention, at least from the EU, where a faster freight forwarding solution utilising the existing infrastructure is provided.

Using existing infrastructure

One of the differences between Nevomo and other Maglev systems is that this technology can be applied to the existing railway infrastructure. Nevomo’s plan could, therefore, reduce construction time and costs significantly. Kirch explained that the implementation of Nevomo’s MagRail technology can be divided into an active and a passive part. The active part entails equipping the rail track with Nevomo components, which can be mounted on top of the sleepers. The passive part requires retrofitting rolling stock to make it compatible with the new system.

Some big names in the European rail world have adored the advantage of this no-infrastructure-change-needed technology. For example, Nevomo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French state railways SNCF in March this year, in which the companies will evaluate the benefits of MagRail within the French railway network to increase the efficiency and capacity of freight and passenger transport.

Various funding

Currently, Nevomo has raised eleven million euros for the development of MagRail technology and related testing. EU grants and equity have split the bill on an equal basis. Additionally, the company obtained 17.5 million euros last year, again via grant and equity composition. EIT Innoenergy, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), has also invested in Nevomo. EIT is an independent body of the European Union intended to strengthen Europe’s innovation ability.

Also read:

• Duisport looks into magnetic rail solution for container handling
• Hyperloop and rail freight: the logistics of the future
• Nevomo: hyperloop-inspired rail freight could be soon a reality