Hitachi Rail Debuts Digital Rail Products at RSSI

Written by Railway Age Staff
Hitachi Rail, in partnership Intermodal Telematics, offers new digital railcar telematics products to provide GPS tracking and operational status information. (Image Courtesy of Hitachi Rail)

Hitachi Rail, in partnership Intermodal Telematics, offers new digital railcar telematics products to provide GPS tracking and operational status information. (Image Courtesy of Hitachi Rail)

Hitachi Rail launched a new PTC onboard system and digital railcar telematics, and introduced enhancements to its current communications and signaling product line at this week’s Railway Systems Suppliers, Inc. exhibition in Kansas City, Mo.

The new PTC (Positive Train Control) onboard system is “an Interoperable Train Control (ITC) solution for freight railroads and commuter rail operators,” Hitachi Rail reports. A modern, multiprocessor architecture is said to run both vital (SIL-4) and non-vital applications.

Additionally, to provide railroads with GPS tracking and operational status information for railcars, Hitachi Rail has teamed with Dutch supplier Intermodal Telematics on new digital telematics products. They complement those from Perpetuum, which Hitachi acquired in 2021.

“We are very excited to be bringing our new railcar monitoring solution to North America with our partner, Intermodal Telematics,” says Miles Metschke, Head of Freight Rail for Hitachi Rail, North America. “The combined products, software and capabilities of both companies creates a best-in-class solution for railcar owners, rail shippers and railroads.”

Hitachi Rail has also updated several of its core signaling products:

• In its M3/M23 switch machines, the Intelligent Electronic Circuit Controller’s (IECC®) remote monitoring and diagnostics have been improved to make it “faster and simpler” for railroads to perform tests and inspections.

• The Model 95-E gate crossing mechanism features “a new electronic control module and dustless motor technology that significantly reduces maintenance costs.”

• For the MicroLok II platform, two new EasyRail® Design and Simulation tools have been launched “to simplify the building and testing of vital and non-vital applications.” The EasyRail® Maintainer is a remote monitoring and diagnostics application, and the ViPro® vital processor is for vital and non-vital wayside signaling and PTC applications.

“We are proud of our core products for communication and signaling that are installed across North America,” says Joseph Pozza, President of Hitachi Rail, North America. “We continue to invest in new digital technologies to provide our customers with modern capabilities to better operate and maintain their rail network.”

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