TrinityRail Launches Trinsight Railcar Tracking

TrinityRail has introduced Trinsight™ tracking to provide shippers with railcar and cargo location, condition and status information in real time. The company also reported that its Maintenance Services division has acquired Bay Worx Rail, a Texas-based tank car cleaning business.

Trinsight™ will take data from TrinityRail’s 132,000 owned and managed railcars and provide it to customers through a proprietary user interface. They can access location and asset status, including GPS, track and trace, weather overlay, geo-fencing, customizable triggers and alerts, and Car Location Message (CLM) data, as well as impact and movement detection, according to TrinityRail. Customers can also customize dashboards and reports. Additional features will be available later this year, the company reported.

TrinityRail described the new service as a “complement to the recently announced RailPulse joint venture.” The joint venture was formed last fall by TrinityRail, Norfolk Southern, GATX, Genesee & Wyoming and Watco Companies. Their RailPulse project—expected to be rolled by year-end 2022—is “committed to develop[ing] new standards and systems infrastructure to support the industry in meeting two key objectives,” they explained. “The first is to provide real-time information for enhanced safety through the consistent, reliable provision of key data on railcars across the entire North American fleet to shippers, railcar owners and railroads. The second is to reinforce rail’s competitive modal share position of freight transportation through increased real-time and sustainable visibility into status, location and condition of rail equipment and commodities being transported.”

“We have heard from our customers about their need to manage their rail supply chain more efficiently,” Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Gregg Mitchell said. “In combination with the RailPulse joint venture, Trinsight™ will significantly enhance the customer experience through IoT and telematics, providing real-time visibility and insight into their fleets and the freight they transport.”

Bay Worx Rail Acquisition

TrinityRail Maintenance Services has acquired Bay Worx Rail’s proprietary cleaning technology systems and facility in south Texas. The company uses “advanced robotics to improve the safety and efficiency of the railcar cleaning process,” according to TrinityRail, which said it would bring the technology to additional maintenance facilities over the next few years, so it can service its own fleet of leased railcars and those of “strategic customers.”

“This acquisition reflects our commitment to providing a premier customer service experience and aligns with our strategy to expand our maintenance services business and optimize our Production Operations platform through advanced technologies,” said Neil West, Executive Vice President, Production Operations.