EBOOK

TRENDS IN NEXT
GENERATION RAIL
FREIGHT ACTIVITY

SUPPORTED BY:
 INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this eBook from

Global Railway Review with
support from Dassault Systèmes.
The global rail freight transportation market size is projected to opportunity to transform activities and unlock extra capacity on
reach USD 217160 million by 2028, up from USD 166930 million in rail networks - both crucial for success.
2021, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8 per cent To overcome capacity issues, the sector could explore several
between 2022 and 2028[1]. opportunities, such as running heavier and longer trains and
Increasing freight volumes, developments in infrastructure increased utilisation of wagons, more effective timetable planning,
and advances in technology are all contributing to growth in improvements to signalling systems and health of infrastructure,
the market. understanding more about off-peak passenger routes which
Transporting freight by rail is vital in supporting the economic could be better utilised, and equipping locomotives with digital
growth of a region or country due to its significant role in the solutions to provide real-time analysis of the activity which can
efficient movement of goods and cargo locally and, importantly, lead to improved efficiency.
across borders. To understand how rail professionals view the challenges and
Furthermore, rail freight transportation can often be cost opportunities of how digitalisation is being used to transform the
effective, and it is of course much less environmentally harmful rail freight industry, Global Railway Review conducted a survey in
than moving goods by air and road. 2022 which gathered the thoughts and opinions from over 200
It is positive news that the number of rail freight movements respondents. We break down the interesting results of the survey
around the world will continue to rise, but with it comes the in this eBook on page 03.

CONTENTS

03 SURVEY SUMMARY
Is your planning technology
on track to cope with the
08 TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGIES
Which digital technologies does
your organisation use?
next generation of rail Wendy Klotz, Director Delmia Strategic
Business Development
freight activity?

09
Summarising the results from over
EXPERT VIEW
200 rail professionals
Overcoming obstacles

04 EXPERT VIEW
Data analytics
Buddharatn Ratawal, Sr. Manager
Michael Bradford, Director Delmia
Strategic Business Development

DELMIA Strategic Business Development

REFERENCE
1. www.globenewswire.com / source:
www.absolutereports.com
SUPPORTED BY:

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 SURVEY SUMMARY

Is your planning
technology on track
to cope with the next
generation of rail
freight activity?

WITH SUPPORT from Dassault Systèmes, freight efficiency. This all plays a part in boosting the
Global Railway Review conducted a survey in 2022 sustainability of rail freight and shifting more cargo
which gathered the thoughts and opinions from away from air and road.
over 200 rail professionals on how digitalisation is There are interesting observations of note when
being used to transform the rail freight industry. we start looking at the survey data across the
Senior-level representatives from rail freight specific segments of this question. When we just
operators, infrastructure managers and other industry look at the responses from top executives, including
stakeholders took part in the survey and the results the CXOs and the VPs, then sustainability comes
are interesting to see. out on top as the biggest challenge that their
organisations are trying to solve. However, if we just
Addressing the challenges look at responses from specialists, team members,
When asked what are the top three critical challenges and managers, then the topic of sustainability is the
that their organisation’s currently face, participants’ fourth priority after data quality, on-time delivery,
top three responses were: ‘data quality and analytics’; and balancing manpower shortage. It is encouraging
‘sustainability’; and ‘scheduling and on-time delivery’. that the top executives are talking about the topic
As the growth of rail freight activity continues, of sustainability, but we are still far from it being
the sector will need to work on overcoming these less of a boardroom/media discussion topic and
challenges; understanding the power of data collected more of an operations planning KPI. 
from assets can help operators take a more analytical
approach with data-driven thinking to improve
timetables and scheduling, ultimately improving rail

@GlobalRailway
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SURVEY SUMMARY

Q WHAT ARE THE TOP THREE CRITICAL CHALLENGES

CURRENTLY FACED BY YOUR ORGANISATION?

#1
(Respondents could select
more than one answer)

DATA
QUALITY AND
ANALYTICS
#2 SUSTAINABILITY

#3
EXPERT VIEW:
SCHEDULING AND Data analytics is as good as the quality of
ON-TIME DELIVERY the data. Due to the legacy data systems,
the quality of data across the rail industry worldwide
is questionable. While the amount of data being
captured across every aspect of rail operation is
increasing exponentially, it is critical to create
a scalable architecture for storing,
arranging, and accessing data -
something that is missing today.
- Buddharatn Ratawal, Sr. Manager
DELMIA Strategic Business Development

OTHER ANSWERS INCLUDED:

Visibility of operations
Global supply chain interruptions
Integration with additional modes of transportation
Meeting and balancing workforce requirements

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 Global Railway Review  |  Dassault Systèmes | eBook

The shift to rail locations across London and Yorkshire, UK.

Meeting net zero targets are of major importance When running at full capacity, the change will see up
and, without question, rail is the most environmentally to 18,000 loads of CCEP’s products – some 2.5 million
efficient by gross tonnes per kilometre. Rail freight cans and bottles of some of the world’s most popular
emits 95 per cent less emissions than air travel for soft drinks – delivered by rail per day, reducing carbon
the same load and distance, and land-bridging emissions by nearly 50 per cent compared to previous
by rail instead of sea reduces non-CO2 emissions road operations. The switch is not only down to
by 84 per cent. the bottler wanting to reduce its carbon emissions
Highlighting the positives in shifting cargo across its value chain by 30 per cent by 2030, but
transportation from road to rail – and therefore is also thanks to Maritime Transport Ltd’s flexibility
promoting the drive for sustainability – the largest and strategic development to modify scheduling and
independent bottler of Coca-Cola globally, Coca-Cola timetable deliveries using innovative solutions that
Europacific Partners (CCEP), recently announced allow more freight to be moved by rail.
their switch to distribute its soft drinks between its
manufacturing sites and third-party warehouse

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SURVEY SUMMARY

Elsewhere, Indian Railways is facing stiff State-of-the-art interactive dashboards, geographic

competition from other modes of transport, such as information system (GIS) enabled views and graphical
roadways and airways, like never before. In today’s presentations of real-time activities, demonstrate key
highly competitive environment, managing its logistics business aspects in a unique, elegant, and informative
functions is a key determinant of overall business way to facilitate easy information grasping and
performance and technology plays an indispensable quick analysis. Through this technological innovation,
role in their scheduling and on-time delivery activities. Indian Railways is vying to improve its planning and
Writing exclusively online for Global Railway Review, operational efficiency and consequent competitive
Raman Arora, Principal Project Engineer in the Centre advantage in rail freight activity, helping freight
for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) – the IT managers to take informed decisions and drive
arm of India’s Ministry of Railways, explained how operations more effectively and efficiently. 
a cutting‑edge IT solution named Smart Freight
Operations Optimisation and Real‑Time Information
(SFOORTI) gives access to freight business information
and related operational aspects on a real-time basis.

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Q WHICH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DOES YOUR ORGANISATION USE?

Risk and Compliance 7% 30% 19% 44%

Emissions tracking 8% 52% 20% 20%

Crew Planning 5% 54% 16% 25%

Planning or scheduling of Operations 5% 28% 24% 43%

Sensor technology (eg. vehicle track interaction) 8% 28% 23% 31%

Digital Twin 13% 60% 15% 12%

Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) 6% 74% 12% 7%

Automatic Train Operation/Autonomous Train Control (ATO/ATC) 8% 62% 10% 20%

Predictive Analytics 16% 34% 22% 28%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Not using, but planning to within 12 months Not using Yes, but looking for advanced technology Yes

Trends in technologies Driving down emissions

When it comes to what kind of digital technologies or According to the Association of American Railroads
solutions organisations are either currently using, not (AAR), railroads have broadly deployed technologies
using yet and those that are being considered, over that conserve fuel, track emissions, reduce idling and
40% of respondents said they are already utilising equip crews with information to operate trains more
software for the planning or scheduling of operations efficiently. These have helped to drive down emissions
and 22% said they are already using predictive by increasing fuel efficiency across the rail industry,
analytics solutions, but they are now looking to which is responsible for transporting 40% of the
implement more advanced technology. nation’s long-haul freight. Some of these innovations
Surprisingly, 54% of respondents said they do not include locomotive anti-idling technologies, or ‘start-
currently use any technology for crew planning, which stop systems’ which save fuel by automatically shutting
could be an alarming result to many in the industry as down a locomotive if it idles for too long. The AAR state
effective allocation of crew and team members is vital that start-stop systems reduce unnecessary idle time
for reliable and efficient activity. by 50%. Furthermore, advanced fuel management
Almost 20% of respondents said they are already systems can give engineers real‑time power and speed
using solutions for emissions tracking, but they are recommendations, which, according to AAR, improve
now looking to implement more advanced technology fuel efficiency up to 14%. Another aspect is to include
in this area which is great news as the race is multiple locomotives positioned throughout trains which
certainly underway to reduce 90% of transport can reduce the required horsepower to move that
emissions by 2050 and the rail freight industry must train while also enhancing fuel efficiency and safety.
take on a pivotal role here to ensure a sustainable Railroads are also exploring using different ratios of
mobility future. renewable diesel and biodiesel in existing locomotives,
which, according to AAR, could reduce carbon emissions
by 20-25%.

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SURVEY SUMMARY

Digital twins
Although 13% of respondents said they do not
EXPERT VIEW:
currently use any digital twin technology, it is New technology adoption is now the
encouraging to know they are planning to within normal process of business operations.
12 months. For a successful future, rail freight must However, there is always risk associated with it.
There may be hidden technological flaws that often
respond to increasing freight demands and become
go undetected until an operational mishap happens.
more competitive in the fight against modal share, In the case of the rail industry, the cost of such an
so accelerating digital transformation is key to operational mishap is huge. Generally touted as
success, and organisations must start to recognise a safer mode of transportation, the rail industry's
the opportunities that digital twin technology and amount of destruction per incident is huge; that is
why rail is understandably very cautious
information management can offer them.
at adopting new technology.
A good example of information management in
- Wendy Klotz, Director Delmia
action is on Australia’s Inland Rail project, a freight
Strategic Business Development
rail network project that began in 2017 to connect
Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria,
New South Wales and Queensland. The project
involves building or upgrading 1,700km of railway,
with the aim of enabling cargo and containers to
move cross country within 24 hours, providing a huge With around 500,000 freight wagons needing to be
boost to the economy, as well as creating new hubs equipped with DAC across Europe by 2030, DB are
across the Outback. The Inland Rail programme, using mobile workshop tents where freight wagons
which is made up of 13 separate projects, needs can be equipped with the new technology quickly
a mechanism to efficiently monitor and control project near where they are used, for example at industrial
deliverables. The Inland Rail team have been installing customers’ sites. These pop-up workshops will help
an information deliverable management framework create temporary additional retrofitting capacity
that allows them to identify delays and efficiently log and shorten the amount of time that wagons are
them for project managers, who then check if they unavailable to customers. DB Cargo, Europe’s
will lead to any critical milestones missed and help leading freight operating company, has successfully
direct negotiations. This ensures that contractors completed the first test in practice in Bremen.
understand what they need to do by when, and all
stakeholders get the assets and information they Automatic Train Operation/Autonomous
need, when they need it. Putting an information Train Control (ATO/ATC)
deliverable management framework in place has Another interesting analysis from the survey was
allowed Inland Rail project stakeholders to understand that 62% of respondents said they are not yet
more about information management, and how they using solutions to move forward with Automatic
can better leverage its power and increase their digital Train Operation/Autonomous Train Control
twin/BIM maturity. (ATO/ATC). ATO will greatly assist train drivers
in their daily work and thus help to counter
Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) the sector’s looming staff shortages, as well as
Perhaps one of the industry ‘buzz-topics’ at the improve rail freight’s efficiency, punctuality, and
moment is Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC). DAC competitiveness. The industry will need to embrace
is a milestone in making rail freight, especially in these technologies going forward, especially in rail
Europe, more competitive. It makes the coupling freight activity where its success can deliver huge
process of wagons not only easier and safer, but benefits. The benefits are already being showcased
more efficient than traditional manual activities. in the industry, when Knorr-Bremse and Thales are
Yet, over 70% of survey respondents said they cooperating on the development of ATO solutions
are not yet using DAC technologies. This is an for locomotive-hauled freight and passenger trains.
interesting response, as the uptake of DAC ATO can deliver gains in efficiency and capacity,
solutions do seem to be picking up pace. For energy savings, performance enhancements and
instance, in recent milestone news, Deutsche Bahn better punctuality, so it will be interesting to see
(DB), the national railway company of Germany, are how these developments move forward in the
now offering to install DAC at pop-up workshops. coming years. 

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Overcoming obstacles that 33% of respondents still face challenges with

When asked what the main obstacles organisations departmental silos. This shows some organisations
are faced with in the adoption of new technologies, must work on breaking down this way of working
it is not surprising to learn that budget/costs came by communicating a unified vision and shifting the
out on top (69%) but it is interesting to understand mindsets of those that are reluctant to change.

Q WHAT ARE THE MAIN OBSTACLES FOR THE ADOPTION OF NEW

TECHNOLOGIES WITHIN ORGANISATIONS?

BUDGET/COSTS
69.16%

CULTURAL MINDSET BARRIERS

42.99%

CHANGE MANAGEMENT
37.38%

DEPARTMENTAL SILOS
33.64%

DATA QUALITY
30.48%

CYBER-SECURITY RISK IS TOO HIGH

12.15%

(Respondents could select

SHAREHOLDER BU Y-IN
more than one answer) 9.35%

Cyber-security

EXPERT VIEW:
The results also show that 12% of respondents
consider the risks around cyber-security to be high
when adopting digital technologies. Of course, the
more digitalised our rail systems become, the greater Often, digitalisation projects lack a unified central approach.
the risk of cyber-threats, so it is more important than Much of the R&D is done at the regional level and controlled
by regional owners with their own budgets, timelines, priorities and
ever for rail operators to have comprehensive cyber-
goals. In this scenario, the digitalisation projects – that should be
security and incident response plans to protect their corporate-level, consolidated projects – suffer because they don’t get
information technology and operational systems from the necessary prioritization due to budget constraints and the
cyber-threats. different regional projects can even be in conflict with
Making news headlines recently was the U.S. each other instead of being unified or complementary
and supporting corporate goals.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
announcing their new cyber-security directive ‑ Michael Bradford, Director Delmia Strategic
regulating designated passenger and freight Business Development

@GlobalRailway
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SURVEY SUMMARY

railroad carriers. It is thought the announcement Choosing a supplier

demonstrates the Biden Administration’s Operating a railway is complex, so having tools and solutions available to the
commitment to strengthen the cyber-security of industry that can help automate, optimise and provide more data-driven thinking
U.S. critical infrastructure. Building on the TSA’s is important in delivering the next generation of rail freight. When asked which
work to strengthen defences in other transportation criteria are most and least important when selecting a planning and scheduling
modes, this security directive will further enhance technology supplier, most people ranked ‘the ease of integration with other
cyber-security preparedness and resilience for the systems’ as the most important, followed by ‘price’, ‘scalability of the solution’, and
nation’s railroad operations. having the ‘ability to customise the solution’. Yet the time it takes for implementation
In a press release, David Pekoske, Administrator of the solution, the amount of training/user adoption needed, and having other
for TSA, said. “The nation’s railroads have a long points of local references where the same solutions are used, were all of least
track record of forward-looking efforts to secure their importance when choosing a technology provider. These results show, interestingly,
network against cyber-threats and have worked hard that the cost of solutions/technology is not the main priority, and that there is
over the past year to build additional resilience. This more value in how new solutions can be easily integrated with existing systems to
directive, which is focused on performance-based enhance performance. 
measures, will further these efforts to protect critical
transportation infrastructure from attack.”

Q
PLEASE RANK THE CRITERIA WHEN SELECTING A PLANNING AND
SCHEDULING TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIER IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE;
% OF PEOPLE RANKING IT #1 OR #2

59%

35% 34% 31%

17%
14% 11%

EASE OF PRICE SCALABILITY OF THE ABILITY TO IMPLEMENTATION REFERENCES IN USER ADOPTION/

INTEGRATION WITH SOLUTION CUSTOMISE THE TIME YOUR REGION TRAINING
OTHER SYSTEMS SOLUTION

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