Agreement signed with Norrtåg and Real Rail regarding sensors on vehicles

Railway Metrics and Dynamics AB has signed a collaboration and cooperation agreement with Norrtåg and Real Rail within the framework of the Swedish Transport Administration’s innovation initiative “Mätning av Anläggning från Järnvägsfordon“.

Railway Metrics and Dynamics is a procured supplier to the Swedish Transport Administration in an innovation project where the goal is to create a continuous facility monitoring of the Swedish railway. The procurement – “Innovation procurement – Regarding further development, validation and delivery of new information services for automated measurement of the railway facility” – consists of three stages where stage two was activated in the autumn of 2023. If all Trafikverket’s requirements are met during the project, the order value is approximately SEK 25 million over a three-year period.

• Million dollar contract with the Swedish Transport Administration signed [Press release in Swedish]
• Swedish Transport Administration activates stage 2 of contract with Railway Metrics and Dynamics

Under the contract with Trafikverket, Railway Metrics and Dynamics will recruit and instrument vehicle owners, traffic organisers and/or railway companies. Railway Metrics and Dynamics has, as previously announced, entered into collaboration agreements with Tåg i Bergslagen and Green Cargo. It is now announced that Railway Metrics and Dynamics has also entered into collaboration agreements with Norrtåg and Real Rail.

– Real Rail and Norrtåg are two important additions to the monitoring of the railway facility as they operates large parts of the Swedish railway – Norrtåg in Sweden’s four northernmost counties and Real Rail all the way from Gothenburg up to Luleå. Together with other collaboration agreements, we are starting to get a really good coverage of the Swedish railway, says Jan Lindqvist, CEO of Railway Metrics and Dynamics AB.

• Agreement signed with Tåg i Bergslagen [Press release in Swedish]
• Agreement signed with Green Cargo

We see it as self evident that we should be involved and contribute to give the Swedish Transport Administration a better opportunity to monitor the railway facility.

 

Linus Sedlacek Åkerlind, technical manager at Norrtåg.

– We see it as self evident that we should be involved and contribute to give the Swedish Transport Administration a better opportunity to monitor the railway facility. It is in our and the entire industry’s interest to reduce disruptions in the system. The technology also creates the opportunity to monitor the vehicles, which could be interesting for us in the future, says Linus Sedlacek Åkerlind, technical manager at Norrtåg.

Everyone benefits from having a fully functioning and well-maintained railway. As we want to help the entire industry and improve the railway, we chose to be part of this project. Our traffic regularly runs the same routes, over the same locations, which makes it possible to see how the infrastructure at these positions changes over time.

 

Anton Persson, vehicle manager at Real Rail.

A number of Norrtåg’s and Real Rail’s railway vehicles will be equipped with sensors developed by Railway Metrics and Dynamics, the so-called Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU). The sensors send information to the Swedish Transport Administration’s data exchange platform (DUP). In addition, the information is analysed by Railway Metrics and Dynamics, which reports deviations and trends in the infrastructure, for example via the company’s proprietary interface called Dashboard.

Until the end of stage two, no compensation is paid between Railway Metrics and Dynamics and Norrtåg or Real Rail. However, the parties are encouraged by the Swedish Transport Administration to, within the framework of the agreement, develop and demonstrate benefits and efficiencies in the railway system that are related to vehicles. Thus, compensation can be regulated between the parties through a separate agreement.

– Our sensors measure the interaction between railway vehicles and infrastructure. Therefore, information is also generated about the condition of the vehicles, which Norrtåg and Real Rail can use to ensure optimised vehicle maintenance, says Jan Lindqvist.

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