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RAIL PLATFORM DATA • RAIL SPECIALIST VTG HAS UPPED THE ANTE FOR DIGITISED RAIL LOGISTICS BY PROVIDING AN EXPANDING RANGE OF POSSIBILITIES FOR CUSTOMERS THROUGH ITS NEW PLATFORM, TRAIGO
VTG HAS BEEN at the forefront of digitisation in the rail sector since the launch of VTG Connect in 2016. But digital technology changes fast and in the coming months VTG will roll out its latest digital platform, traigo. VTG Connect included functions such as wagon tracking, information on transport incidents and load statuses, features that will be included in traigo alongside many more. Dr Heiko Fischer, chairman of the executive board of VTG, explains: “With traigo, we are creating a digital infrastructure for rail freight transportation and, on this basis, offering a service that is unique in the industry; traigo will become our customers’ central interface for digital fleet management in the future. For us as a company, traigo represents a
HCB MONTHLY | FEBRUARY 2020
systematic continuation of the digitalisation path that we have been pursuing for several years. We are convinced that rail freight transportation can only be a competitive option in the long term if we exploit the potential of digitalisation to make the entire rail system more transparent, more efficient and easier for the customer.” NEW APPLICATIONS In its initial form, traigo users will be able to access a host of digital solutions, such as contract data and information about the wagons they have hired in real time, but there will be far more added to the platform in due course. One such addition will be a digital correspondent for the complete analogue service portfolio, which includes the online booking of wagons and a fully digital maintenance management. There will also be the inclusion of completely new services such as forecast arrival times for rail freight consignments, wagon tracking, information on transport incidents and load status. The forecast arrivals feature will be based on the analysis of millions of actual, anonymised wagon movements. “There’s never been anything like this in the rail industry before,” says Sven Wellbrock,
who is responsible for wagon hire and rail logistics in Europe on the VTG executive board. “We map our entire hire business digitally and will also be able to offer completely new services in future based on digital data and smart models. This will make rail freight transport significantly more attractive.” VTG says traigo will provide a whole new system of collaboration where third parties can offer digital products to their customers via traigo. “The name ‘traigo’ doesn’t just make you think of the words ‘train’ and ‘go’, thus playing on how dynamic logistics is,” says Dr Niko Davids, VTG’s chief digital officer. “Moreover, ‘traigo’ is the Spanish for ‘I carry’ – and this is precisely what we want people to associate with the new platform. It brings a whole range of useful services with it as well as, of course, the experience we have amassed. We do know, though, that one player alone can’t change a complex system such as ours by themselves.” The full release of traigo is planned for the second quarter of 2020. Interested customers have the opportunity for a sneak preview to test the platform and all currently available functions with their own data free of charge. The feedback from this test phase will feed into the platform’s continued development. Customers wanting to find out more can contact a representative by e-mailing servicedesk@traigo.com. www.vtg.com
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