intelligent rail freight

Nomination for the State Prize for Digitalisation

The most innovative digital projects and products were sought, evaluated and selected by a top-class jury according to a wide range of criteria. The submission phase took place together with the FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency). We are delighted that our project "Digital Rail Transport: Automatic Brake Test via Tablet" has been nominated. The decision on the State Prize Digitalisation 2023 will be made at the JOYN ORF 4GAMECHANGERS Festival 2024.

Watch live on TV or via Facebook:

14 May 2024 at 8.00 pm

Further (German) information on: https://www.digitalaustria.gv.at/WissensWert/Events-Digital-Austria/Staatspreis-Digitalisierung.html

Austrian Mobility Award 2023 for PJM

Europe's smartest goods train is Austria's best digital project and won the Austrian Mobility Award of VCÖ.

Digitalisation is a catchphrase, but in rail transport it is the game changer for improving the competitive situation and cost structure. The pilot train of Mercitalia Intermodal Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane shows that digital technologies are no longer a vision but already part of everyday life on the rails. Getting more freight transport onto the rails is central to achieving the climate targets. To achieve this, it is also important that rail freight transport becomes more efficient. One solution is to speed up processes through increased digitalisation, as demonstrated by the "Digital Rail Transport" project of the Graz-based company PJ Monitoring. A pilot train was fully digitally equipped, from automated brake testing to ongoing monitoring. This results in shorter turnaround times and faster delivery times, reduces wear and tear and thus maintenance work, and the monitoring gives the workshop information on the problem in advance, which in turn speeds up repairs. VCÖ Managing Director Ulla Rasmussen, Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler, ÖBB-Personenverkehr Board Member Sabine Stock and Michael Braun from Siemens Mobility Austria presented the award to Günter Petschnig and Christoph Lorenzutti from PJ Monitoring.

Michael Braun from Siemens Mobility Austria congratulates the winners: "Digitalisation solutions are the key to more sustainability and environmental protection in mobility. With innovative ideas, transport becomes more efficient, more powerful and, above all, more climate-friendly."

"Freight transport is crucial for achieving the climate targets. In the future, more rail transport must be realised with fewer personnel and wagon material. The necessary increase in performance can only succeed with automation and digitalisation. The digital transformation of rail freight transport can therefore only succeed step by step. Hence it is important to use existing and future-proof technologies now in order to benefit from the many advantages today," says Günter Petschnig from PJM.

Credit: VCÖ - Mobilität mit Zukunft/APA-Fotoservice/Rudolph
Fotograf/in: Roland Rudolph

General / Waggon Tracker - 09/28/2023

Technical lecture at the "48th Modern Rail Vehicles Conference"

The renowned symposium takes place every second year in Graz and is organised by the Institute for Railway Engineering and Transport Economics at Graz University of Technology. PJM will present a best practice model on the topic of "Automation and digital condition monitoring in freight transport" as part of a technical lecture. The focus will not only be on the technical implementation of a digital intermodal train, but also on the many benefits for the operator.

Further information on the expert congress

Railway station of freight trains from a height at sunset

General / Waggon Tracker - 09/12/2023

Nomination for the Austrian Mobility Award: Online voting until 23 July

Mercitalia's "super-intelligent" freight train project has convinced the jury. The most intelligent goods train in Europe is nominated for the Austrian Mobility Award, carried out by the VCO.

"The most intelligent goods train in Europe by Mercitalia" is nominated for the Austrian Mobility Award. Every year, the VCÖ selects the best mobility projects in several categories. A jury of experts has evaluated the top 5, now it's your turn and take part in the online voting: You can vote until 23 July (in German language). The German title of our project is: "Digitaler Bahntransport: Der intelligenteste Güterzug Europas".

https://vcoe.at/voting-digitalisierung-in-der-mobilitaet

Of course, our WaggonTracker is also on board as the basic system for the large number of functionalities.

Intelligenteste-Güterzug-Europas-Mercitalia-med

News / Waggon Tracker - 07/12/2023

European Award: PJM is winner of the ERCI Innovation Award

PJM is the winner of the prestigious ERCI Innovation Award! PJ Monitoring GmbH was awarded “Best SME” on 26 October in Lille, France. The renowned award is presented by the European Railway Clusters Initiative (ERCI), which unites 16 railway clusters from 17 European countries. The prize is awarded by a European jury of independent railway experts from industry, research and public institutions. The decisive factor for the jury was the development of a digital overall system realizing the concept of intelligent freight wagons. The so-called WaggonTracker system is the first and only system worldwide that fulfils comprehensive monitoring functions and automates complex manual processes. "The ERCI award means a lot to us. We regard innovations and new technologies as problem solvers. Rail freight transport in particular has great potential for further development. Innovations are urgently needed to push freight transport on environmentally friendly rail and we have the digital know-how to do so. We are very pleased that European railway experts are awarding our innovative technologies!", say Martin Joch and Günter Petschnig, the two founders and CEO of PJM.

Strong Styrian railway industry

The submission for the renowned ERCI Award was organised by the mobility cluster ACstyria. "The ERCI Innovation Award is most significant prize of the European railway industry. It is awarded to companies that have successfully brought innovative products or solutions to the market. We are very proud that PJM won the category 'Best SME' in Styria. PJM has developed in only 15 years ago from a spin-off of Graz University of Technology to a stable SME. This shows, that research institutions and industry perfectly cooperate in Styria. We know how to get innovations on track," says Christa Zengerer, Managing Director of the Styrian mobility cluster. “ACstyria partner companies are not only world market leaders for bogies and tracks, but also experts in sensor and measurement technology. Due to over 50 companies and about 3.000 employees ranging from global corporations to highly specialised niche suppliers, Styria is a European centre for the railway industry.”

Award-winning WaggonTracker technology

PJM has already received several awards for the WaggonTracker, including the Austrian Mobility Award 2020, the German Innovation Award Winner 2020 and the Fast Forward Award 2019.

General / Presseberichte / Waggon Tracker - 10/27/2021

Technical article on the load monitoring system in the magazine "Der Eisenbahningenieur"

A deep insight into the automated load monitoring system is provided by the German magazine “Der Eisenbahningenieur”. Get more on the technical design of the LoadMonitor, benefits for the loading process and medium-term and longrun positive effects.

Get the full story (in German language):

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Presseberichte / Waggon Tracker - 05/19/2021

Completed: 500+ wagons of Mercer & TRANSWAGGON equipped with automated load monitoring system

“The capacity has increased many times over. Another big benefit is that the loading staff sees at once if the wagon is overloaded”, says Lothar Krebs, Deputy Sales Director of TRANSWAGGON in Hamburg when he is talking about the automated load monitoring system of PJM. Recently, the last of 512 wagons in total was equipped with the automated system. The wagons are in use by Mercer Holz which is one of the largest purchasers in Europe. More than 3.5 million tons of logs, chips and lumber are transported by rail every year.

Wood can have weight differences of up to 50% due to differences in density and moisture content which is a big uncertainty factor in loading the wagons. “We need reliable, stable monitoring of the loading process to protect against overlading of the wagons”, explains Jürgen Köhler, Division Manager for Rail and Ship Logistics at Mercer Holz. The load monitoring system meets all these demands: The system analyses the load and the load distribution during the loading process. Signal lamp indicate as soon as the maximum load capacity is reached. Further benefits: real-time, precise and reliable data transfer and lists of train composition are provided per app, scan, NFC or manual input. “Mercer Holz pushes efficiency exemplarily and its wagon capacity is very high”, says PJM CEO Günter Petschnig. “By increasing the system efficiency and its safety significantly, the automated load monitoring system ensures a quick ROI.”

More information on the load monitoring system and its benefits:

https://pjm.co.at/en/waggontracker/

Credit: TRANSWAGGON

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General / Waggon Tracker - 05/04/2021

"Der Eisenbahningenieur": An analysis of the automated brake test system and its benefits

The well-respected magazine "Der Eisenbahningenieur" provides a profound insight by Günter Petschnig and Christoph Lorenzutti: An analysis on requirements and benefits of a system for automated brake testing in rail freight.

Get the full story (in German language):

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Presseberichte / Waggon Tracker - 04/20/2021

ETR magazine reports on the load monitoring system

The German special interest magazine ETR provides a deep insight into the load monitoring system in use by Mercer & TRANSWAGGON. Timber is a "difficult" transport material, due to its varying volume.upDepending on weather conditions, the weight of wood can vary by up to 50 %. The load monitoring system ensures the optimum load capacity during the loading process.

Get the full story (in German language):

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Presseberichte / Waggon Tracker - 03/23/2021