INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS (ITS): FREIGHT RAIL APPLICATIONS

Intelligent transport systems (ITS) are seeing implementation in the road freight transport industry, transit systems, and the private vehicle-road network environment. The same trend is becoming evident in rail freight transportation, as the competitive pressures continue to increase. ITS applications which offer customer interfaces and value-added customer services have the potential to become significant product differentiation factors. Such applications also offer the opportunity for operators to implement decision support tools based on real-time data collection and analysis. This paper discusses some of the various railway real-time management systems currently under development. This is followed by a more detailed treatment of three main areas where ITS are likely to lead to significant gains, namely: the uses of geographic information systems (GIS); real-time train planning and management; and real-time profitability analysis at the micro level. GIS based data capture and analysis offer railways opportunities in four main areas, namely: adding value to their customers; improving resource productivity levels; enhancing the business planning function; and as a tool in medium to long-term operational and investment planning. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract no. 899454.