traigo: VTG introduces digital platform for more transparency in rail freight transportation

- New brand: traigo to incorporate VTG’s full digital range.

- New platform: traigo offers customers a range of functions for a digital fleet management.

- New products: a smart feature predicts the ETA for rail transports.

- New way of thinking: the platform is not just intended for VTG customers – the entire sector is invited to collaborate.

 

VTG is taking rail digitalization to a whole new level – the Hamburg company is expanding its range of digital services and will be making it available in future on a platform under the name traigo. “With traigo, we are creating a digital infrastructure for rail freight transportation and, on this basis, offering a service that is unique in the industry,” says Dr Heiko Fischer, Chairman of the Executive Board of VTG AG. “traigo will become our customers’ central interface for digital fleet management in the future. For us as a company, traigo represents a systematic continuation of the digitalization path that we have been pursuing for several years. We are convinced that rail freight transportation can only be a competitive option in the long term if we exploit the potential of digitalization to make the entire rail system more transparent, more efficient and easier for the customer.”

 

Range of functions – new digital applications for smart rail freight transportation

traigo offers customers a range of digital products. With the launch of the platform, customers will be able to access contract data and retrieve information about the wagons they have hired in real time. In future, there will be a digital correspondent for the complete analog service portfolio of today – including the online booking of wagons and a fully digital maintenance management. 

In addition, VTG is taking advantage of the possibilities digitalization presents and, through traigo, is offering completely new services, such as forecasted arrival times for rail freight consignments. Based on the analysis of millions of anonymized wagon movements, traigo’s transport management tool boasts the ability to predict when a freight train will reach its destination. “There’s never been anything like this in the rail industry before,” says Sven Wellbrock, who is responsible for wagon hire and rail logistics in Europe on the VTG AG Executive Board. “We map our entire hire business digitally and will also be able to offer completely new services in future based on digital data and smart models. This will make rail freight transport significantly more attractive.” Right from the start, various functions will be available on the traigo platform, and the range of services will be expanded continuously.

 

Open to all – collaboration with customers and the industry

traigo is not just a new product or service, it is actually a completely new approach to collaboration, both with customers and within the industry as a whole. “The name ‘traigo’ doesn’t just make you think of the words ‘train’ and ‘go’, thus playing on how dynamic logistics is. Moreover, ‘traigo’ is the Spanish for ‘I carry’ – and this is precisely what we want people to associate with the new platform. It brings a whole range of useful services with it, as well as, of course, the experience we have amassed. We do know, though, that one player alone can’t change a complex system such as ours by themselves. This is why we are inviting both our own customers and the entire industry to collaborate with us. Our platform and the experiences we have made are open to all those who want to contribute to digital, sustainable rail freight transportation – so, all who want to bring something to the table themselves,” says Dr Niko Davids, VTG AG’s Chief Digital Officer. That means for example third parties will be able to offer digital products to their customers via traigo.  

 

Background – VTG Connect as the initial spark for digitalization

With the launch of VTG Connect in 2016, the company had already begun to digitalize rail freight transportation, thus laying the foundation for today’s developments. The data service includes several functions, such as wagon tracking, information on transport incidents and load statuses, which will also be available via the traigo platform in the future. Just like VTG Connect, traigo embodies the company’s ‘Connecting Worlds’ vision, as it stands for the merging of the analog and digital worlds, as well as for the link between the various players in rail freight transportation.

                                                                                               

Let’s go – free test period

The platform’s official launch is planned for the second quarter of 2020. However, interested customers already have the opportunity for a sneak preview to test the platform and all currently available functions with their own data free of charge. The feedback from this test phase will be incorporated into the platform’s continued development. Customers who wish to find out more can contact their respective sales representative at VTG or the Service Desk by e-mailing servicedeskmail@traigoweb.com.

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