SNCF Logistics partners with Traxens to develop ‘digital’ freight train

French state railway subsidiary SNCF Logistics and Marseilles-based shipping container technology firm Traxens have been conducting collaborative research for the past year on a real-time rail tracking system expected to be operational in second half 2017.    SNCF Logistics has partnered with Marseilles, France-based shipping container technology firm Traxens to develop what they are calling the “digital freight train.”
   As first reported by Railway Gazette, the two companies have been conducting collaborative research for the past year on a real-time rail tracking system they expect to be operational in the latter half of 2017.
   Details of the plan were scant, but the companies said they would reveal the full scope of the digital freight train project in May at the Transport Logistic trade event in Munich, Germany.
   “This digital innovation…will give rise to a new generation of freight trains, which will help improve the performance and appeal of rail in the goods transport market,” the French state railway subsidiary said, according to a report in Lloyd’s Loading List. “A majority of shippers say they are willing to resort to more rail freight if certain criteria such as real-time data and on-time deliveries are better taken into account, which would be guaranteed with future digital freight trains.”
   “Our partnership with Traxens allows us to invent and implement a solution that will benefit all players in the sector: railway undertakings, railcar leasing companies and shippers,” added SNCF Logistics CEO Alain Picard.
   Founded in 2012, Traxens’ shareholders include second and third-largest container carriers Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) of Switzerland and CMA CGM, also based in Marseilles. Both firms have said they would install Traxens’ “connected” container technology, which offers real-time location and temperature tracking, across their respective vessel fleets.
   “To be chosen by SNCF for the digital freight train is both a huge boost for our young company and validation of our technology, which has proven to be the best solution for the digital train as well as for multimodal containers,” Traxens Founder and CEO Michel Fallah said of the project. “This is a promising sign for our development into new markets.”