Optimizing rail freight transport: capacity, availability and penalties

March 8, 2024

Optimize your rail freight transport to avoid penalties weighing heavily on your budgets while facilitating the work of your teams.

As in many areas, optimization is key. Your rail freight transport is no exception. Optimizing transport means time saved, problems avoided, costs reduced and a team with more time to deal with higher value-added tasks.

Plan and then execute the transport

Within the planning module of the Everysens platform, transport is constructed in a predictive manner, based on the information provided by the shipper's logistics team for this transport (point of departure and arrival, dates, loading, etc.) and on the information collected on contracts with railway companies, wagon rental companies, etc. It's time to optimize transport using our artificial intelligence. In the event of a sticking point with one of the stakeholders, it can easily be resolved directly within the platform.

Once the train corresponding to the transport has left, it goes into the execution module of the platform. It is thanks to this module that it is possible to follow the progress of transport up to its point of arrival. In the event of any incident (train out of service, late driver, power outage, etc.), an alert will be sent to the charger in order to warn him of the incident and its consequences. In this way, the operator can take the appropriate measures to respond to this incident and minimize the impact on its transport plan.

Costs and penalties

Everysens allows you to centralize the management of costs related to rail transport:

  • Projected transport cost: According to the transport contract, a cost model is determined based on the route. It thus calculates the costs based on various parameters specified in the contract between the carrier and the shipper. These parameters include the type of traction, the type of cars, the number of cars, the net or gross tonnage, and the nature of the goods carried. It is on this cost model that our artificial intelligence is based to determine the most financially advantageous route for the transport in question.
  • Cost actual composition: This is the same cost model as for projected costs, except that these also take into account the products actually loaded.
  • Extraordinary costs that may lead to penalties:
  • Transport: These costs relate to incidents during transport. Their pricing is based on a case-by-case basis according to the contract between the shipper and the carrier. These costs can be declared after the transport. They have an impact on the total cost of transport.
  • On the road: These extraordinary costs apply in the event of a problem on the road and according to the contract between shipper and carrier. For example, if, at the end of the period indicated in the contract, the shipper has not reached the total tonnage required on the road in question.

All costs are recorded within the platform, which allows them to be compared and compiled. This greatly facilitates cost analysis, prepares the billing process and encourages cost optimization by becoming aware of the main areas of expenditure and acting on them to reduce them.

Wagon capacity and availability

A daily view of the availability of its cars is made available to the shipper on the platform. It is automatically updated according to planned transports. Every month, we get information from the shipper to update this view. Moreover, this view may be sufficiently precise to indicate, for a given site, the number of cars of a certain type available at a given date.

It is also possible for the shipper to see, for a given site, how many tons can be loaded by his cars, and how many tons can be produced per day by his sites. This makes it easy to know how many tons can be loaded, and the status of stocks leaving the factory.

A weekly view is also given for unloading time slots, making it possible to get the goods to the receiving site as best as possible. If the unloading teams are available to receive the goods immediately, the entire logistics chain is optimized.

A user interface designed to optimize transport

The concern to optimize transport is present even in the user interface. It highlights constraints, alerts and problems directly on the dashboard on the home page. By putting this critical information in the spotlight, stakeholders can quickly identify critical points and take corrective actions more effectively. This ease of use promotes more transparent and optimized transport management, thus guaranteeing better fluidity of operations.

Learn more about rail freight and Everysens