S-B Rail Group Staff Report: UPDATED MARCH 30—Global Railway Industry Response & Impacts, COVID-19 Pandemic

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus, a pandemic, and the U.S. has declared a National Emergency. The global railway industry has been responding. Following is a staff report from the editors at Railway Age, Railway Track & Structures and International Railway Journal that will be continuously updated with the latest developments, the most significant posted up top.

MBTA to Deploy Wi-Tronix Safety Solutions

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) will complete deployment of the Wi-Tronix® Violet Edge IoT Platform on its diesel locomotive fleet in an effort to enhance the safety of its trains and to improve service reliability.

G&W to Implement PST Solutions

PS Technology (PST) announced that Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) will implement CrewPro Short Line™, a cloud-hosted, subscription-based railroad crew management and Hours-of-Service (HOS) system, and QualPro™, a qualification and training management solution, across its U.S. freight railroads.

Big Data Journey: From Collection to Analysis to Predictive Use

RAILWAY AGE, MARCH 2020 ISSUE: The December 2019 Big Data in Railroad Maintenance Planning Conference, held at the University of Delaware, continued to highlight the advances the railroad industry is making in addressing the growing volume of data from inspection and other systems, and learning how to apply it. This was clearly shown in the keynote address, where the keynote speaker, Jeffrey D. Knueppel, P.E., now retired as General Manager of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) presented how his agency is already using a range of data collection, data analysis and data management tools in the everyday running of SEPTA. In fact, he titled his presentation “SEPTA’s Journey Into Big Data” and presented a range of Big Data applications that are currently implemented or being implemented on SEPTA.

Why Intermodal Railcar Purchases Have Stalled

There are multiple contrasting intermodal market outlooks for 2020. Intermodal volume growth is illusive in 2020. One thing is certain: Fewer new intermodal cars are needed.

CSX Shares Virtual Training Simulation Success

CSX was recently interviewed about its dive into the virtual training simulation world with interactive training provider Heartwood. The goal of the interview was to explore the opportunities and challenges the company faced while adopting this new technology, and to share their industry outlook around it.

ClearBlade Releases Ario-GX

ClearBlade recently introduced the ARMS Ario-GX™, an industrial IIoT gateway with smart I/O aimed to measure, monitor and report the status of remote assets to the back office, in partnership with Automated Railroad Maintenance Systems (ARMS).

TekTracking Debuts GLM on CP

Railroad asset management technology development company TekTracking LLC has installed its first Gate Light Monitor (GLM) system at a Canadian Pacific Railway highway-rail grade crossing.

Takeaways from REF 2020: Cowen

Cowen and Co. analyst Matt Elkott participated in the 2020 Rail Equipment Finance Conference (REF) in La Quinta, Calif., the largest annual gathering dedicated to North American freight railcars and locomotives. He offers the following observations:

MBTA Deploys RailcarRX Asset Lifecycle Management Platform

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has deployed a customized data analytics/decision support platform developed by RailcarRx to provide its Operations and Maintenance Department with actionable information in an effort to help improve its asset lifecycle management processes.

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