Sep 22, 2022 Sep 22, 2022 Dec 5, 2023 Updated on Dec 5, 2023 2 2 min read

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LoRa asset tracking solution to monitor railway construction wagons in Switzerland

Railway
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Problem

Challenge

Railrental leases railway construction wagons in Switzerland. The company doesn’t own the wagons. The owners are other construction companies that do not need their property for some time. So Railrental runs some kind of exchange. The company was looking for an asset tracking solution to facilitate wagon management.

  • Three parties from the chain (owners, renters, and Railrental itself) needed to know the location of the wagons as they got lost sometimes.
  • There is no permanent electrical power on the wagons to ensure the long-term work of tracking devices. 
  • Railrental needed to track where the wagons stop either for parking or construction works.

railway wagon tracking

A construction wagon leased by Railrental

Solution

Solution

Railrental turned to Gotthard Handels AG, Switzerland,  for a suitable wagon tracking system and the Wialon partner was ready to offer one.

  • Gotthard Handels chose Swisscom's LPN LoRaWAN as a network for devices of the LoRa asset tracking solution as it covers 97% of the population in Switzerland. 
  • The client’s wagons were equipped with Comtac LoRaWAN E1374 trackers. This tracker had already been integrated with Swisscom's LPN. The device is water-resistant and has a long-life battery lasting up to 4–5 years without recharging.
  • The wagon location data from the trackers is transmitted to Wialon via Swisscom's LPN. 
  • Railrental, the wagon owners, and renters can follow the vehicle location data in Wialon.

lora asset tracking solution

The asset tracking solution used LoRa for accurate on-site tracking of wagons with no access to electrical power

Gotthard Handels provides support for the project during working hours.

The asset tracking solution has already been implemented for 21 wagons, and the client plans to continue with installations.

Results

Results

Gotthard Handels provided Railrental with a reliable LoRa asset tracking solution allowing the rental company to improve the wagon management.

Better customer service

Railrental can quickly react to clients’ requests and inform them about the current wagon location.

No more lost wagons

The wagon location data is always at hand.

Transparency

Railrental, the wagon owners, and renters can quickly learn where a wagon is instead of wasting time by addressing questions to one another.

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