Case Study | Swiss Federal Railways: Vehicle identification

"We see vehicle identification using RFID in Rail as an enabler technology that digitizes all processes that rely on a vehicle ID." - Stefan Koller, Head of Train Control Systems, SBB AG

Recognize critical developments at an early stage

SBB Infrastructure is the operator of the train inspection facilities. The aim of the infrastructure manager is to detect defective vehicles at an early stage and to prevent certain incidents through targeted measures. To prevent operational disruptions, the infrastructure and all vehicles running on it are permanently monitored. For safety and cost reasons, SBB wanted to avoid unexpected repairs to passenger or freight rail vehicles. In addition, the sudden breakdown of trains should be prevented to avoid unplanned repair work. Proactive maintenance is an important process for a smooth, reliable timetable.

Not digitized, not transparent

Why did SBB opt for reliable vehicle identification with RFID? They were looking for a solution for real-time transparency. Until now, it was possible to determine that a vehicle was defective, but not which one. The exact vehicle number could not be determined. Without reliable vehicle identification, the measurement data on the vehicle's condition could not be passed on to the responsible vehicle owners. This meant that they could not benefit from data that provided important information about the condition of components. They did not have the opportunity to rectify conspicuous problems at an early stage before they reached a critical level.

The domino effect

In the previous process, it was possible to identify defective vehicles in good time when an intervention threshold was reached in order to carry out a service call. However, these unplanned interventions led to disruptions in the transport chain and other traffic and therefore had an impact on very different customers - both in cargo and passenger transport. The aim was to prevent this undesirable chain reaction in future.

The beginning: labeling with RFID

The basis for the desired quality assurance measures was initially vehicle identification via RFID transponders, which made it possible to assign the data to a vehicle on an axle-by-axle basis. This is the only way to reliably track the vehicle status across several train control units and detect critical developments at an early stage.

Monitoring of infrastructure and vehicles

The detection of vehicle axles was ensured via rail contacts installed on the track. By linking this data with the RFID identification data, it was possible to generate a self-responding business event that provided information about the condition and individual vehicle data. The result: real-time transparency about the condition of the rail vehicles. For user-friendly visualization, KATHREIN Solutions developed an app tailored to SBB to display the determined vehicle data (presence, vehicle number, axles) on mobile devices. This visualization depicts each vehicle with each individual axle and provides an immediate overview and transparency for each rail vehicle recorded.

Installed RFID hardware and reading processes

The RFID transponders on the trains and the RFID readers installed on the track bed require special robustness that can withstand any weather conditions. The KATHREIN ARU 3500 reader is specially designed for harsh environments and is therefore ideally suited to these conditions. The internal antenna of the ARU 3500 kept the hardware costs within limits for a single-track application. For a double-track application, an additional ARU 3500 was connected as a slave. Thanks to the configured IDs (master and slave) on the main reader, each detection can then be assigned to the track accordingly. KATHREIN also equipped all train control facilities (approx. 70 locations) with RFID readers and marked the rail vehicles with an RFID tag in accordance with DIN standard EN17230.

Data acquisition at 180 km/h, snow or heavy rain

The reading requirements of the RFID transponders on the vehicles included the vehicle number and track number. In addition, the data had to be recorded reliably in a range from 5 km/h to 180 km/h. As the weather conditions in Switzerland can be extreme, especially in winter, a type of installation was required that would function perfectly even under difficult weather conditions. For this purpose, 68 detection points were distributed across the Swiss rail network. 14 are used for single-track detection with a single ARU 3500. A master-slave process with two ARU 3500 readers was used for the double-track detections.

Record and intelligently process data

Once the RFID readers have recorded the data, it is transferred to the app specially developed for SBB via the KATHREIN CrossTalk software. Each reading point sends the data to three servers:

• A productive server
• A backup server
• A test server

The RFID hardware is monitored centrally via an internal SBB system, which receives the reader status data via KATHREIN CrossTalk Agent and the CrossTalk Server. KATHREIN CrossTalk also enables the RFID hardware to be integrated into the leading SBB system. The KATHREIN RFID reader is made intelligent by means of the CrossTalk Agent so that it can transmit its status data to the SBB system.

The success of the project

What began with pure RFID-based identification for greater transparency led to a new level of quality management in infrastructure maintenance. The newly gained transparency provides information in real time about the condition of components and their incipient wear and tear and warns of repairs at an early stage. Maintenance work can now be planned even more specifically without jeopardizing timetables. This is a huge plus point for customer satisfaction, both in freight and passenger transport. The digitized information is visualized on a terminal that shows exactly which rail vehicle has a problem without the need for a personnel-intensive search. SBB made intelligent use of RFID identification for the digital transformation of central areas. Once the data has been recorded, it can be used in a variety of ways. It remains to be seen where the journey in beautiful Switzerland will take us in this respect.

 

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Case Study | Swiss Federal Railways: Vehicle identification