Trimble partners with Railhead

Trimble announced that it is partnering with Alsip, Ill.-based Railhead Corp. to integrate real-time remote monitoring, diagnostics and on-board video to enhance locomotive asset utilization and productivity.

As part of the collaboration, Railhead will also offer the Trimble R2M remote diagnostic system as part of its portfolio in the United States.

First released in Europe nearly a decade ago, the Trimble R2M system is currently in use with a range of rail operators including South West Trains and Abellio Greater Anglia in the United Kingdom; Irish Rail, VR Finland and others. The system processes multiple data feeds from on-train event recording equipment to deliver fault alerts as they occur to control rooms and repair shops for effective condition-based maintenance and train operations management. With Trimble R2M, railroads know where assets are at all times and can benefit from real-time condition-based reporting on the health status of on-board systems.

Railhead, with more than 5,000 installations to date, is an on-board video system for locomotives and cab cars. Its rugged high-definition Locomotive Digital Video Recorders hardware is Association of American Railways-approved and MIL-SPEC rated for the locomotive environment. The system provides quality, high-definition watermarked video suitable for documentation purposes for compliance and litigation.

Railhead’s portfolio also includes an advanced interface module, and an on-board condition-monitoring device that can connect to a large number of on-board train signals and systems. The Railhead portfolio is scalable and modular allowing customers to expand the solution and hardware investment as needed.

Trimble, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Railhead will combine video data streams from Railhead’s LDVR together with system data feeds from multiple on-train devices using the Trimble R2M system. The integration enables railroads to add real-time data to the control room overview. This combined remote management and diagnostic solution will give a complete picture of rail asset status to the mechanical department, emergency personnel, engineers and operators to improve maintenance and operations. Access to this critical data can enhance the railway operators’ ability to make informed decisions in real time.