Your freight rail network completely connected.
Creating a step-change in the safety, performance and reputation of the freight rail industry.
Transend® provides real-time visibility across all your rail infrastructure. It is the key to the digital transformation of railroad operations offering improved safety, service reliability, and asset utilisation, as well as reduced costs.
Transend offers indispensable tools to enhance railroad efficiencies and network reliability while proactively preventing derailments, minimising downtime, optimising maintenance procedures and schedules, and meeting all proposed new regulatory requirements.
Transend modifies the rail business model via digitization, to evolve from a rather rigid model to a more dynamic network, joining rail operators, technological platforms, and customers.
Current challenges.
Wayside detectors are limited and unreliable
Legacy infrastructure such as wayside detectors have shown to provide limited and unreliable information due to only providing data at the detector placement point (often every 15-20 miles average). Too often, when wayside detectors malfunction and lead to derailments, the proposed solution is often to add more of them. As the NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated, “this is not science based.” The real answer is to change to Transend.
Data frequency too intermittent.
Alerts coming in too infrequently have proven to be disastrous, as in the case of the Ohio Norfolk Southern NS Train 32 derailment where a previous detector had shown bearing temperature near acceptable levels, but the following detector showed over double acceptable temperature.
Temperature can rise to catastrophic levels in minutes. Real time monitoring is necessary to detect this process. See our case study to understand how Transend can detect, alarm and hence prevent this occurrence.
Safety alerts being missed.
Connectivity issues and legacy infrastructure has resulted in safety alerts being too late, going to the wrong person or missed altogether. While other transportation methods have applied real-time reporting as standard procedure, freight rail is still dependent on outdated technology. Transend sends immediate alerts to relevant authorities and decision-makers through their preferred communication channel.
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How Transend revolutionises your freight rail operation.
Transend features
24/7 real-time monitoring
Transend monitors freight rail every moment of every journey. Transend never sleeps or takes a day off. Transend’s monitoring identifies issues before they become large-scale problems.
Prevents derailments by eliminating wayside detectors
Transend’s real-time monitoring replaces the need for wayside detectors and associated AEI technology. Transend offers a suite of detection solutions in one product, offering reliable identification, detection, alarm and prevention.
Connected railroad cloud-based solution
Transend connects all aspects of the train and rail infrastructure to continuously monitor the complete ecosystem including historically dark assets. With data stored in the cloud, it’s secure and easily accessed.
Immediate alerts to key audiences
When Transend identifies an issue, all relevant parties are immediately and automatically notified through their preferred digital channel. Alerts are received with time to act before they become major issues.
Resilient throughout all weather events
Transend has been tested for over four years in rugged terrain and extreme weather conditions, ensuring reliability no matter where your trains travel.
Fast installation and customization
Transend is customized to the needs of all customers. And the fast installation minimizes freight rail downtime. The sensors and equipment are small and easily integrated into an operator’s current infrastructure.
Synchronise your supply chain from end to end
Transend offers better supply chain performance, by offering precise visibility of the location and condition of your valuable freight.
Transend offers up to 900X efficiency multipliers
Transend takes efficiency improvements to a whole new level. Safety inspections (FRA)
are 900x faster, which gets trains and freight swiftly back on the move. Transend can
conduct a safety inspection of a 100-car train in 10 seconds compared to 2.5 hours for
a conventional inspection.
Benefits
Improved safety for staff and fewer derailments
Transend helps avert disasters and keep staff and the public safe from derailments and other potential hazards. It eliminates the need for employees to enter Danger Zones, reducing the risk of injury.
More accurate data through technology
Tried and tested sensors and digital infrastructure removes human error and creates near perfect accuracy. The richness of data not only provides real-time safety information, but also invaluable efficiency insights for your operation.
Predictive maintenance
With non-stop precision monitoring across all key aspects of your rail infrastructure, defects and malfunctions are detected early, saving downtime as well as costly repairs or replacements. And most importantly, this allows for preventative action to be taken before a safety incident occurs.
Improved rail performance
With better monitoring and predictive maintenance comes increased car velocity, reduced dwell time, fuel savings, workforce productivity, improved train handling and punctuality, increased train length and reduced total cost of ownership.
Actionable data collected & available
With all data from Transend’s extensive ecosystem of sensors collected and via the cloud, the data is available on demand. This assists not only rail operators but also other stakeholders, e.g. first responders, if there is a problem.
Improved supply chain transparency
Knowing exactly where your precious cargo is during transportation is an expectation of every other mode of transport. The benefit to railroad operators is the balancing of train movements to improve rail asset and crew utilisation. Now Transend brings freight rail into the fold with GPS tracking of every rail car.
The Transend Connected Railroad employs a range of digital schemas that are linked through the Internet of Things, and measure all the vital ecosystem data (performance and defects) on a freight rail operation. Covering above rail (in blue) and below rail infrastructure (in green), it eliminates legacy equipment and hence wayside maintenance, which is now carried out in the rolling stock workshop. Relevant data is available to the driver, train control and maintenance via a secure cloud-based platform. Communications and displays (in orange).
Our extensive Four-Year Mary Valley Case Study.
The Transend product has been successfully tested for four years on the Mary Valley Rattler, in Queensland, Australia. The commercial version of the Transend product has been designed incorporating learnings from this long-term trial.
This particular train was chosen as the infrastructure represented a legacy system that is commonly found in freight rail operations around the world including North America. In addition the harsh terrain
Request the case studyThis particular train was chosen as the infrastructure represented a legacy system that is commonly found in freight rail operations around the world including North America. In addition the harsh terrain
and conditions demonstrate the Transend® system’s ability to withstand the environment. For exclusive insights on the case study data, please click below.
Why should you trust Transend?
Independent specialists
60 years of relevant experience
4 years of real-world, successful trials
Answers the needs of all rail stakeholders
Dedicated to restoring pride & trust
Such a product could have averted the Ohio Train 32N derailment
Ready to be a partof the future of freight rail success?
With over 60 years’ experience in the freight rail industry and a consistent focus on innovation and problem solving through forward thinking, the Transdiagnostics team is ready to provide you with the expertise needed to propel your operation now and into the future. Ask us how today.
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