Lionel van der Walt takes a look at how air cargo community systems (ACCS) continue to gain traction around the globe and how their number will carry on growing due to the benefits they provide all parts of the supply chain

The supply chain has been dealt a huge shock during the last six weeks [at time of writing] as the Covid-19 pandemic has swept the globe. Collaboration and co-operation between stakeholders at airports is never more important due to the widespread challenges, and will remain as high when the crisis is over, which has further enhanced the value of ACCS’.

The air cargo industry is one of the most fragmented due to the number of different players that are part of the process to move shipments by air - shipper, freight forwarder, cargo handler, carrier and more the other side and to the final mile.

Airports in Europe were the first to establish community systems with key hubs like Frankfurt, Brussels and Amsterdam Schiphol at the forefront of their development. The Asia region then joined the trend when the likes of Mumbai and Singapore Changi set up community systems but remarkably, the USA has lagged behind and only just got its first ACCS at the start of 2020.

America’s first
The community trend only took off in the USA in January this year when Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was the first to launch one, while Miami International Airport is looking into the feasibility of starting one and others are set to follow.

Meanwhile, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport has also launched a system and is now working with its cargo community system to digitize cargo and improve the efficiency and speed of its cargo community.

PayCargo are a part of the first system in Atlanta with our payment platform underpinning the community system, as part of a collaboration with IT business Kale Logistics and gives stakeholders an easy and secure way of making freight payments.

The PayCargo platform underpins the ACCS, using application programming interface (API) to facilitate the integration with Kale’s community system, giving all stakeholders visibility of the payment status, thereby eliminating delays and unproductive truck trips for shipment pick-up from the hub.

The ACCS allows stakeholders to communicate electronically with each other, including shippers, airlines, trucking companies, customs brokers, freight forwarders and cargo handlers. The ACCS also facilitates and streamlines the transportation of goods and information, to, and from, the Georgia state airport, which is one of the busiest in the USA.

Since it was put into operation, Linda Eshiwani-Nate, Senior Air Service Development Officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport reports that the airport has already seen tangible benefits and it has improved its airfreight operations and reduced overall logistics costs, enabling better supply chain planning. It has been used to eliminate duplicate data entry work, and excessive documentation, and addresses truck congestion issues, enabling improved customer focus and expedited processes. In Atlanta, the ACCS involves more than 20 stakeholders, including ground handlers, freight forwarders, airlines and trucking companies.

Community benefits
ACCS’ have provided a range of benefits as they have improved co-operation, transparency, and efficiency in the supply chain helping improve air cargo processes for all stakeholders. As digitization slowly takes over processes in the air cargo supply chain, the need and demand for efficient technological solutions is rising and every ACCS uses the latest platforms to boost operational performance.

One of the biggest benefits is that when challenges and problems arise, rather than each stakeholder looking out for their own interests, and pointing at each other, they work jointly and see issues as a common problem. Projects such as digitization also get a boost from the strong community approach with a joined vision and roadmap and this feeds into the digital transformation journey that much of the air cargo supply chain is on.

PayCargo sees itself as a key facilitator within the digital adoption and development of these air cargo communities, as a fast-digital online payment solution is something that benefits everybody. Collaboration between individual communities is also something that is on its way and in recent months, there have already been meetings between different systems.

Next-level community systems
This is the new emerging trend in ACCS’, and will take it a step further, as communities are looking at how they can link systems together to maximize synergies and benefits. As individual systems join forces, this can only bring significant advantages to air cargo stakeholders, as it helps to drive and maintain standards across airports that are collaborating and connecting up. The move will also meet the objective of creating more and more standardized global trade lanes by connecting hubs across the world for verticals such as pharmaceuticals, perishables, live animals and dangerous goods.

Last year, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol entered into a renewed collaborative partnership with Atlanta, with the move creating a new trade and logistics corridor between metro Atlanta and the Netherlands. The move has enabled exchange of data between the two hubs to facilitate end-to-end planning and capacity optimization, and extend the benefits of the AMS Cargo Community to ATL.

The flow of air cargo will be enhanced through these hubs, as interlinked systems will make the movement of shipments faster, more efficient, and transparent. One day, I can envision an operating environment where different air cargo communities at key hubs are all inter-connected, ensuring the seamless flow of shipments through trade corridors.

Recent global events such as the current widespread challenges caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, show more than ever, how working as a community can help each and every part of the supply chain.

In order for the air cargo industry to progress and have a successful future, all stakeholders must digitize and transform their processes and operations to digital platforms, which also helps to navigate any crisis that arises.

The cargo community approach has never been so important as collaboration and transparency are vital in the current climate and our partners can gain economy of scale benefits from being part of them.

PayCargo is focused on becoming the payment solution of choice within these air cargo community systems and working with our partners to expedite the seamless flow of cargo and cargo data through the supply chain.

Lionel van der Walt is President and CEO Americas, PayCargo, the number one financial platform for moving money and vital remittance information between payers and vendors. PayCargo’s online solution allows you to move cargo quicker and reduce payment costs more than any other platform available. Its patented technology effortlessly registers your company so that you can immediately start making payments to your freight vendors. It has over 4000 vendors in its network including major ocean carriers, air cargo providers, and hundreds of terminals and CFS stations.
www.paycargo.com

The latest news, announcements and updates from the world of transportation and logistics, across land, sea and air

Bridge control
Manufacturer, distributor and designer of rugged electronics catering specifically to the military, maritime and industrial markets, Seatronx has announced the launch of the Seatronx Digital Matrix Switching Command Control system (SCC).

“Seatronx has created the highest quality, most user-friendly digital switching system available,” explained Keith Cariani, executive principal, Seatronx. “What is so unique about our system is that it’s modular and can be scaled up or down to meet any requirement or budget.”

The Seatronx SCC takes bridge control to a completely new level. The system not only allows operators to control individual or multiple displays including power on/off, input selection, brightening, dimming and night mode view, it is also fully customisable with optional modules for added functionality. These accessory modules let users incorporate KVM mouse, keyboard and touchscreen switching; vessel monitoring applications; NMEA data viewing; camera control; and environmental control such as lighting, shades or any other asset onboard.

“The SCC is an ideal solution for a variety of classes and styles of boats,” confirms Anthony Zuccarelli, operations principal, Seatronx. “We are positive that users will be thrilled with its performance.”

Slide into place
A 350-ton (310-tonne) capacity Hydra-Slide low profile skidding system was the centrepiece of a multifaceted transformer delivery and installation in Sweden.

The LP350 skidded the 264-ton (240-tonne) transformer under an overpass - a planned manoeuvre on the 25-mile (40km) route from Sundsvall to Nysäter - and then into its final position. The LP350 represents the continued evolution of the low-profile range that also includes the XLP150 extreme low-profile system. In contrast to their heavy track counterparts, these products are completely hand-portable, compact and ideal for use in areas with limited access or clearance.

“We worked with a 4-inch (10 cm) margin between the transformer and the overpass, sliding approximately 115 ft. (35m),” said Joakim Andersson, heavy project division at Jinert, a Swedish lifting and material handling company that delivered the massive transformer for its customer, DSV, a global transport and logistics firm. Including the truck, the entire transportation weighed in at 360 tons (327 tonnes).

“We already had an extensive fleet of equipment, but we were challenged with the sliding, lifting and transportation of a transformer from a vessel to its foundation; it was a big project. A requirement was to stay as low as possible, which is why our research led us to the Hydra-Slide product,” he added.

Mask delivery
GEODIS has transported 13 million masks from China to the US utilising an Antonov AN-124, the world’s second largest aircraft. This shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE) arrived at Hartsfield – Jackson Atlanta International Airport on 22nd May and is the largest delivered to the airport during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“GEODIS has been able to make sure millions of essential workers receive the masks they need to stay safe and healthy during these unprecedented times,” said GEODIS Americas President & CEO Randy Tucker. “Our team at GEODIS and our partners, including the Hartsfield – Jackson Atlanta International Airport, that helped make this happen so quickly are supply-chain heroes.”

Experienced in this critical element of the global supply chain response to COVID-19, GEODIS established an air bridge between China and France to transport PPE for the French Government as early as March.

Stay alert
ProGlove is responding to customers’ needs for a smart solution to help workers maintain proper social distance. Leveraging its MARK family of wearable barcode scanners and ProGlove Connect app for Android, ProGlove has released a product upgrade that activates proximity sensing for frontline workers.

When personally equipped with the MARK wearable scanner and paired Android device, workers coming within close proximity of each other are alerted. The alerts come to the workers via a full array of options including audio sound, optic LED light, and haptic vibration signals. This is important in a busy or noisy shop floor environment where an Android alert in a pocket could be easily overlooked.

“We tested the MARK upgrade in-house and it works beautifully. We’re now rolling it out on our own assembly line,” confirmed Konstantin Brunnbauer, VP of Production for ProGlove.

Eyes on the road
Recognising growing demand for high-quality, reliable in-cabin cameras, Ring Automotive has added two new additions – the Trade PRO1 and Trade PRO2 dash cameras – to its ever-growing range, helping to protect the commercial vehicle (CV) market in the event of an accident while on the job.

The Trade PRO1 dash camera includes an adjustable 110º lens with 720p HD resolution, along with 32GB of storage, while the Trade PRO2 dash camera comes with a 120º lens, offering 1080p and double the storage with 64GB.

The dash cams, which have been designed specifically for the commercial vehicle market, will record vital evidence in the result of a collision, which in turn removes the risk of insurance fraud and in some cases, can even reduce insurance costs, enabling the driver to focus on the job in hand.

Both the TradePRO1 and Trade PRO2 dash cameras are designed with a streamlined profile to be discreet within the vehicle and feature a fully adjustable lens to fit all windscreen types, as well as a 2.4” screen, and state-of-the-art additions are available too.

Sail away
Norsepower Oy Ltd. and Scandlines have released details about the successful installation of Norsepower’s Rotor Sail Solution.

Scandlines’ M/V Copenhagen, a hybrid passenger ferry operating between Rostock, Germany and Gedser, Denmark, has been retrofitted with a Norsepower Rotor Sail unit measuring 30m in height and 5m in diameter. The installation was completed in a matter of hours, following meticulous preparation over the past few months.

The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution - which can be installed on new vessels or retrofitted on existing ships - is a modernised version of the Flettner rotor, a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to thrust a ship. The Rotor Sail is the first data verified and commercially operational auxiliary wind propulsion technology for the global maritime industry.

This installation, the fourth successfully completed by Norsepower, is estimated to reduce emissions by an estimated four to five per cent on average without compromising pre-retrofit speed and voyage times.

Securing supplies
Aberdeen Standard Investments’ AIPUT fund (Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust) has secured a lease extension to 2030 with Kuehne+Nagel for its Heathrow South Cargo Centre warehouse at Heathrow Airport, securing the site’s pivotal role as a nationally-important facility for the movement and storage of imported/exported pharmaceuticals and other medical products, such as life science-related IT equipment.

“Kuehne+Nagel is one of a number of AIPUT customers and commercial partners at Heathrow that have responded magnificently in ramping up their business operations to help support the nation’s health - in particular our NHS - in the most challenging circumstances,” Nick Smith, Fund Manager for AIPUT said.

“This new agreement with our valued partners Kuehne+Nagel, secures the future of this nationally-important air freight facility for years to come, making a major contribution towards ensuring that the UK’s vital access to global healthcare supplies is maintained.”

Kuehne+Nagel - the world’s second largest airfreight forwarder - is an established customer of AIPUT, having operated out of the 208,000 sq ft Heathrow South Cargo Centre since 2014. GlaxoSmithKline is the leading customer of the warehouse facility, which represents a significant share of the UK’s pharmaceutical imports and exports. Kuehne+Nagel is joined at the Heathrow South Cargo centre by Do&Co Catering and GE Aviation.

Heathrow has been repurposed in recent weeks to focus mainly on importing essential airfreight products to feed and support the UK’s recovery. The gateway airport is currently handling up to 95 dedicated cargo flights each day - 14 times the number in normal times.

“It’s hugely inspiring to see businesses vital to the operations of our leading airports, stepping up to the mark and proving the importance of the UK’s aviation industry to our national wellbeing, as well as to the future economic recovery of UK plc,” added Nick.

Driving the MaaS conversation forward as the future of transport. By Andy Taylor

To improve transportation in the future, we need to help people get from A to B as easily as possible, be it the quickest, shortest, or most economical route. All while providing the most convenient and user-friendly traveler experience possible.

This goal may seem simplistic on paper, but traditionally has been fraught with a number of challenges – most notably the siloed nature of the transport sector. Private and public bodies have operated independently, rather than in unison, which has ultimately halted the progression of a people-centric network.

This has started to shift through the advent of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). MaaS is not a newly coined concept. It has been steadily gathering steam in recent years within the transport community, with successful implementation in cities such as Helsinki and Berlin. Ultimately, MaaS is paving the way for more and more cities across the world to have better, faster, more connected, and personal transportation methods.

Yet, we need to extend conversations of MaaS beyond government chambers and instead seek wider collaboration from government bodies, transit organizations and private companies to tackle the issue of a fragmented transport system and help carve the path towards a MaaS future. These discussions are only set to grow and raise in importance owing to a number of urban, societal and technological factors.

Tackling urbanisation through MaaS transit
One of the biggest drivers for the development of a MaaS future is built on the rapid urbanization that is occurring globally. More people are now living in cities and their surrounding areas today than ever before. By 2050, the urban community is expected to grow by 2.5 billion, which means that city dwellers will account for 66 per cent of the world’s population.

Ultimately, more people mean more transit journeys. Increased commuters will put further pressure on transport networks which are already operating at maximum capacity, especially in peak hours.

Rising city populations will also increase the amount of congestion facing our roads as we as a society continue to rely on private car usage. According to Inrix’s 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard, UK drivers lost an average of 227 hours a year due to traffic in 2018. This emphasizes the delays that we now face owing to rising urbanization. The success of MaaS in Nordics which enables users of the third-party app, such as Whim, to access public transportation services all through a single service is helping commuters navigate around cities more easily, and make the most of public transport.

Shifting from a ‘me’ to ‘we’ society
Cultural and societal changes are also driving MaaS. In recent years, we have shifted from a ‘me’ to a ‘we’ culture. Today the change in consumer mindset driven by the on-demand economy is apparent. The transportation industry must recognize it is facing a new generation of users: affluent, tech-savvy, and environmentally conscious that have grown accustomed to the immediacy and accessibility of services.

We’re seeing this shift largely due to Millennials and Generation Z, which are encouraging the growth of personalized, flexible and sometimes informal mobility services, such as shared car hire. According to The Economist, car sharing will reduce car ownership at an estimated rate of one shared vehicle replacing 15 owned vehicles. The likes of Uber and public bike hire services are also increasing in popularity and are now considered a part of the travel that commuters typically take.

As such, the aims of MaaS fall neatly in line with current and future commuting trends by combining multiple services into a singular payment service, accessible by just a few clicks or swipes of the fingertips.

But MaaS isn’t a solution just for the tech savvy Millennials and Generation Z. MaaS can and should be a solution that drives benefits for all users of the transport network. Better planning and data sharing required for betterment of MaaS solutions will drive benefits in Public Transportation which should serve everyone better.

An additional benefit of MaaS is in its ability to tap into data and understanding commuting trends. Through MaaS, transit operators can continue to provide services that are tailored towards travelers and ensure that they have a full range of transit services available to them in completing journeys in the most efficient manner possible. Data will also help inform cities of the end-to-end journey patterns of the user community so they can then try to understand why someone is making a journey and drive this information into better urban planning for more effective social inclusion.

Capitalising on the technology layer
As exhibited by the success of the MaaS scheme in Helsinki, we have reached a level of technology proficiency that enables MaaS to become a reality on a broader scale. Technology also serves as a catalyst to reduce siloes that exist between different transit organizations and bodies, and help introduce a legislation or framework that encourages collaboration in order to transform commuter’s experiences.

Thanks to significant improvements and adoption of cloud technologies, the transport sector is now in a better position to capitalize on a data sharing ecosystem to create better ticketing and payment services across private and public modes. Cloud-built data warehousing or data lakes can enable easy data sharing between relevant parties in real-time and securely. Data will essentially become the language of MaaS and propel more communication from disparate private and public transit bodies.

Data is plentiful and with the right analytics and technology infrastructure to sift through these insights, we can drive actionable insights that will transform commuting around a city. This wealth of data is only going to increase as we see more and more connected devices and sensors being adopted across cities, with the transport sector being a key vertical that could benefit from this. Analysts predict there will be 34 billion IoT devices in 2020.

The IoT could, for example, help transit operators identify railway tracks that need repairing before a problem even occurs, significantly cutting down on train delays. It could help provide detailed and up to the minute information on bus journeys or any details about congestion on the road that could delay a potential journey. Ultimately, all this information can be relayed more accurately to commuters and MaaS can enable them to find alternative routes to help complete their journeys in the quickest means possible.

It is up to us and future generations to enact actions that enables MaaS to serve as the future of our transport. We already have the tools at our disposal – we now need an honest and open discussion about the underlying role of transportation in our society with all relevant parties, so that we can determine what the future of mobility must look like, understand the trends impacting future transport, who it needs to serve and how, as an industry, we can make our vision a reality. MaaS is definitely a big step towards the future, but it’ll only be successful if we can all come together and understand to realize a joint dream in ensuring seamless travel for all commuters.

Andy Taylor is Director of Strategy at Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS). CTS is the leading integrator of payment and information solutions and related services for intelligent travel applications in the transportation industry. It delivers integrated systems for transportation and traffic management, providing tools for travelers to choose the smartest and easiest way to travel and pay for their journeys, while enabling transportation authorities and agencies to manage demand across the entire transportation network – all in real-time.
www.cubic.com/solutions/transportation

Remote Telemetry Units (RTU) are helping rail operators maintain efficiency and safety at a time when, outside the coronavirus crisis, passenger numbers are increasing. Here, Philippe Aretz looks at how best to access these benefits

Up until the world was faced by the current global pandemic, a record number of passenger journeys were made on English, Scottish and Welsh railways. In fact, a survey by the Office of Rail and Road showed that 1.76bn journeys were completed on Britain’s rail network during the 2018-19 calendar year, a 3.0 per cent rise compared to the previous year.

The continued rise of passenger numbers places increasing pressure on an already stretched network, which means that maintenance and monitoring programmes are an essential element of ensuring rail assets operate safely, reliably and efficiently.

At the same time, companies need to deliver returns to their stakeholders, and any disruption or delay to the timetable can result in lost revenue. With fines for late or cancelled trains, operators have a vested interest in managing reliability. There is also a need to constantly monitor the environmental impact of operations and above all else, ensure the safety of staff and passengers.

Data is critical to meet these challenges and the most appropriate device to collect and process this ‘data’ is the RTU or Remote Telemetry Unit. These devices have a long-proven record of sitting on track, station, signalling and level crossing assets where they collect, store and act upon data, and can do so reliably and securely in the harshest of environments that some of the world’s railway lines run through.

In these applications, RTU’s are effectively computers in the field. They collect data locally, act upon it immediately, report data to the central control room and maintain a local historical store as an additional backup. The RTU is the device sitting between the Control Room and the field instruments, which provides a low latency response to changing site conditions as well as performing data filtering. The RTU ensures that only key, critical information is passed via the narrow communications links, minimising data throughput but maximising useful information received.

The specific types of roles they carry out include: power distribution monitoring and control, remote signalling sub systems, point and crossing monitoring, track and station condition monitoring as well as passenger information systems. Alongside this, RTUs can provide train/track location system monitoring and control, and driverless train early warning systems.

Case file: Control Switch Point Heaters for Major European Rail Network
TBox RTUs were selected by a major European rail network to provide point heating condition monitoring. The network is located in a country where there are extreme weather conditions and as such the operator is required to have workers in over 700 railway stations on call around the clock for clearing snow or ice from switch points to prevent them from freezing or blocking with snow.

Following a review, the track maintenance team decided to install automatically controlled heating systems at all strategic locations to reduce the sizeable cost of manpower. In addition, hundreds of switch points were fitted with small heaters powered by gas or electricity. Using a complex algorithm based on data from temperature and humidity sensors, ice and snow on the rails is now detected automatically. A complex PID control system starts the heaters to prevent the build-up of snow or ice on the switch points.

In each railway station, automation is performed by a TBox RTU located in a control cabinet. Depending on the complexity and size of the station, one or more remote I/O modules are provided as sub-stations in the field to operate and monitor a group of switch point heaters. Via a local RS 485 network that can be up to several kilometres in length, the sub-stations handle the measurement and control tasks of the individual heating systems. Despite electrical interference from passing trains, automation and communications remain perfectly stable. Each sub-station has its own operating console for maintenance and manual control. Only one device is required for communications and remote control of the heating systems

All the data (correct sensor operation, set-points, outside temperature, gas pressure, present consumption, etc.) from the RTUs is transmitted to a central station using SCADA software and an Ethernet network with TCP/IP protocol. The WAN (wide-area network) uses fibre optics and Ethernet communication. For redundancy and safety, each TBox RTU has its own GSM modem that can be directly addressed for maintenance or control purposes. It can also be used to send e-mails or alarms to GSM mobiles.

Benefits of the telemetry units for the train operator are that they deliver an extremely fast return on investment due to the significant savings in electricity and gas consumption by the fully controlled heating system. Complete remote control of each railway station, eliminating the need for local personnel to clear the switch points, enabled them to be deployed to other tasks.

These kinds of RTU systems provide utmost reliability of the hardware and software components, which was essential on this project due to the extremely harsh environment. In addition, the system allows for local data logging of events and recording energy consumption, temperatures, and equipment operating time, which is proving to be valuable information for the management team. The system provides automatic alarm signalling to key maintenance personnel in charge of the switch points.

In addition to providing safety and reliability, heating systems can realise major savings in energy costs through automation. Using a programmable device like the TBox RTU provides significant savings compared to older techniques, in which the heaters are either constantly on for the entire winter or operated by a thermostat.

Advances in RTUs
In terms of the basics, the key features needed in any RTU are; resilience to the site environment, an ability to operate with minimal drain on local power resources and the processing power to perform any local control algorithms autonomously. It is also beneficial for an RTU to have extensive diagnostics capability and a low MTTR (Meant Time To Repair) to reduce the time required for technicians to spend on site, improving both efficiency and personnel safety.

Being able to perform autonomous control in real time and then report to SCADA that it has everything under control is an advantage; staff at the SCADA interface can ‘supervise’ the operations by setting new KPIs (Set Points) or updating instructions (open/close this, start/stop that or switch on / off – as in the track point heaters, for example) for RTU’s to then act upon and manage locally.

In addition, because RTU’s do everything locally, if communications break down they continue to run, maintaining a historical log, and reporting back later. In remote track and tunnel locations this is an essential part of keeping maintenance teams informed and being able to trend data. For example, the data that the RTU collects can be used to support maintenance decisions and to verify that safety obligations are being adhered to. Although most RTU’s in the rail network are only used for operations they can support maintenance teams, health and safety initiatives and environmental management. This ability to provide accurate, real time data allows Train Operating Companies to make better, more informed decisions. Looking to the future RTU’s, which are already ‘mini PCs in the field’, can transform an aging rail asset into a ‘smart’ asset. This is possible by fitting an RTU to allow it to trend, interpret and act on data collected from that older asset.

Cyber security is also a key requirement from an RTU. TBox RTUs embed all features to protect the asset from external attack by using login mechanism, data encryption, firewall, denial of service protection and brute force attack protection.

The way forward
Our switch point heating and catenary de-icing systems now provide energy-saving heating and de-icing for the rail infrastructure in some of the coldest parts of the world, which ensures cold-weather safety on both rails and stations. The applications include electrical point heating, geothermal point heating, overhead wire de-icing, contract rail de-icing and platform and stairs de-icing. They are installed as complete efficient energy saving solutions or as single components to existing systems and widely used in all ‘cold’ European countries, USA and Canada. They provide excellent return on investment and long-life cycle.

As RTUs evolve and become more powerful they will continue to help the rail sector deal efficiently with record numbers of passengers, once the coronavirus epidemic has been beaten. Innovation will help drive this change; it is already possible to deploy RTUs on a diverse range of rail assets, whatever its size or age. Inbuilt redundancy and resilience are helping to avoiding system failures. At the same time, improvements in processing power and throughput are helping RTUs keep up with increasing demand for data.

The rail sector is defined by its geographically spread assets and multiple process all of which generate massive amounts of data; key to ensuring this data helps efficiency and performance is being able to capture and interpret it in real-time and convert it into useful management information. Latest, ruggedized RTU technology focuses specifically on that, helping rail operators meet their investor and customer commitments.

Now is a good time to look at the benefits of RTU’s and get a programme in place ready for when things return to normal as they surely will. It is those companies that grasp this opportunity that will be ready for the upturn in passenger numbers.

Philippe Aretz is Channel Sales Director at Ovarro, previously Servelec Technologies. Ovarro is headquartered in Sheffield, UK, with offices also located in Reigate, UK, Denmead, UK Melbourne, Australia, Waterloo, Belgium, Calgary, Canada, Lyon, France and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. For more than 40 years, the company’s hardware and software products, systems, and consultancy services have been trusted by the world’s leading companies across sectors such as water & wastewater management, oil & gas, transportation, communications & broadcast, and energy.
www.ovarro.com