Rail Freight

Smarter Technologies Group’s Orion Data Network Solutions

Customer-Focused Railway Management

At Smarter Technologies group we understand that, when the Railways are managed by a public body utilising tax payers’ money it’s essential to commit to sustainable development principles and value for money for customers and stakeholders. Where railways are privately owned or there is joint responsibility, the companies involved also require an asset and security solution that achieves enhanced productivity and time and cost savings, while also ensuring the safety of customers, visitors and personnel.

Reduce Costs and Carbon Footprint

All of our Railway asset tracking, monitoring, recovery and security solutions reduce costs by up to 75% more than other asset solutions for the rail sector. By reducing waste, automating processes and increasing productivity our Orion Data network solutions reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable Rail industry business model.

A Complete Solution for All Railway Assets

To help create a more sustainable business, our end-to-end asset solutions are focused on maximising the usage and minimising the cost of asset and system lifecycles by defining the most appropriate approach to asset maintenance, inspection, retirement and renewal.

Our solutions can be used to track any Railway asset including plant, machinery, property, buildings, trains and other vehicles, freight and cargo, track, cable, signalling, structures and earthworks, electrical power and fuel, drainage, waste and telecommunication equipment.

Railway Asset Maintenance

Smarter Technologies Group’s Railway Asset Maintenance Solutions allow you to have a 360 degree view of all your assets 24/7. You can monitor your inventory and share equipment between stations, ensuring that every item is accounted for and nothing is lost.

The system uses sensors and data analytics to determine when Railway equipment maintenance is due, so you can automatically create predictive maintenance schedules. This maximise asset lifecycle and saves time and money by automating previously manual systems and freeing up key personnel for other critical tasks. In this way Orion gives you an understanding of how you utilise your Railway assets and a clearly defined approach to usage, failure, degradation, maintenance, planning, delivery, purchasing and outsourcing.

Cable Theft Prevention

Copper cable theft is still a huge problem in the UK. To demonstrate the knock-on effects of just one isolated cable theft incident, in 2016 a single man working alone used axe to chop the cable from live lines in the East Midlands. This theft resulted in 3,267 minutes of train delays and cost Network Rail over £164,500. There are also many organised crime gangs operating across the UK Railway network and individual gangs have been known to carry out upwards of 35 thefts per year.

The Orion Data Network can penetrate dense surfaces and so the tags are still effective when attached to copper cable underground. This means you can secure your copper cable with covert tags and track and monitor the location of the cable as well as use tamper sensors to send an alert of anyone digs up or cuts the cable.

Your personnel and the police can get to the scene of the crime before the criminal gets away, or in the event that they have already absconded, the cable can then be tracked and recovered using our hand-held RFID readers to pinpoint its exact location.

We work with you and with the police to ensure swift recovery and to help ensure that cable thieves are arrested and convicted to deter and prevent further offences.

Rail Freight Tracking

Copper cable theft is still a huge problem in the UK. To demonstrate the knock-on effects of just one isolated cable theft incident, in 2016 a single man working alone used axe to chop the cable from live lines in the East Midlands. This theft resulted in 3,267 minutes of train delays and cost Network Rail over £164,500. There are also many organised crime gangs operating across the UK Railway network and individual gangs have been known to carry out upwards of 35 thefts per year.

Freight trains move a total volume of around 17.8 billion net tonnes of freight over 34.9 million kilometres per annum. This valuable cargo is at risk from loss, theft and damage and needs to be protected.

The Orion Data Network can be used to track the freight trains, the containers and pallets carrying the freight and the cargo itself to give you a comprehensive view of the location, temperature, security, volume, local environment, weather and other important factors.

This means that valuable assets like freight containers and cargo can be tracked and monitored throughout the Rail supply chain, identifying weak security spots and bottlenecks and recovering lost and stolen assets to predict and streamline required processes and save time and money.

Lone Workers on the Railway

Orion tags can be attached to individual pieces of equipment and other assets in remote locations and personnel can also wear tags that show their exact location at all times. We also have SOS and man down alarms that can easily be activated in an emergency to enable fast response, mitigating the risks associated with working in these environments.