The international railway magazine Railway Gazette analyses the digitalisation of goods trains in Europe and takes a detailed look at our smart goods train concept. Get the in-depth article on the development steps and benefits of intelligent freight trains.
DB Cargo optimises the loading process of bulk cargo and equips 100 EAOS wagons with PJM's automatic load weight monitoring system. The WaggonTracker Load Monitoring System determines and displays relevant data in real time, in particular weight, overload, asymmetric loading and free capacity. Optionally, the loads on wheel discs, wheelsets and bogies can also be determined. The real-time results are displayed in the web portal or - depending on customer specifications – the results are visualised directly on the wagon by means of signal lamps. In the DB Cargo application, the automated system fulfils several parameters:
"Automatic load weight monitoring does optimise operations. By using sensors in future, the automated process will reduce the time required by determining the load weight, including its distribution," says Michael Wolkow, Head of Procurement, Equipment and Technology at DB Cargo AG.
The Railway Forum Berlin is Europe’s leading management conference of the railway industry. The industry get-together is taking place for the 8th time. This year, PJM will again present technological innovations in digital rail freight transport. There are several opportunities for you to see our digital solution around the WaggonTracker system live in Berlin:
Railway Forum Berlin, 6 - 7 September 2023
We look forward to your visit!
Invitation Styrian coffee break & wine taste: https://pjm.co.at/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ACStyria-Berlin-2023-Web-neu_b.pdf
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):
“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
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):
Mercer Holz is a well-known company in the German timber industry. Every year, Mercer Holz purchases over 5 million cubic metres round timber and sawmill by-products. Hence, the freight volume is very high. About 1,8 million cubic metres round timber and wood chip are transported by rail. In order to simplify the loading process, Mercer Holz has implemented the Load-Monitor-system by PJM. On account of the variable density of timber, volume is not the ideal loading parameter. The load monitoring-system automatically determines the loading process on-site. The load is indicated by signal lamps on the wagon or on the display of the person being in charge of the loading process. Thus, the loading staff is assisted locally and can adjust the load immediately (e.g. in case of overload, impacts etc.). The load monitoring systems provides safety and an increase of efficiency. The load is always at an optimum level.
In February, our WaggonTracker-team has completed the project in Niesky / Germany: 157 load monitoring systems were installed on new wagons and 50 (existing) were upgraded with the PJM-systems.
Learn more about the load monitoring system: https://pjm.co.at/en/waggontracker/load-monitor/
The international special interest magazine Railvolution reports on our load monitoring system
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