Resource Capacity Forecast logo

Forecast the resources your train depends on,
before you commit it.

Resource Capacity Forecast (RCF) tells you how many wagons will be available at each site, and how much product will be ready to load, up to 30 days ahead. And because it sits inside your planning, it shows you which transports and which customers a shortage would hit, and what you can still do about it: reschedule, simulate another plan, or secure the capacity you are missing. 

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See the shortage coming, days or weeks before you commit the train

This is what your planners see every morning:

A clear forecast of wagons and products across your sites, the transports and customers a shortfall would affect, and the levers to act in time, reschedule, simulate another plan, or secure the capacity you are missing.

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Wagon and product availability forecast table by site and by day, with shortage alerts

What changes when capacity
stops being an assumption

-20%
dead freight costs
Less unused capacity on every departure
-15%
transport cancellations
More trains keeping scheduled
-5%
Fleet safety margin
Right-sized fleet, based on actual availability
Source: Everysens cross-industry network data, 2026

Rail planning is full of moving parts.
A few of them cost more than the rest.

How many wagons will actually be available next Tuesday, and at which site?
The answer sits across wagon positions, return delays, maintenance status and the scheduled transport plan. By the time someone has assembled it, the loading window has moved.
The train is booked. The product is not ready.
Production slips by half a shift. The train leaves with space you have already paid for, or falls below its contractual minimum and is cancelled. The penalty applies either way, and you are paying for the fresh air.
52% of wagons are immobilised at any given time.
Not during a disruption, on a normal operating week. Statistically, some of them are yours, and the safety margin you carry is what absorbs the ones you cannot see coming.
The plan was built on data that was already 3 days old.
Positions, returns and loading status each arrive at their own moment. Your team builds the plan anyway, because the week starts whether the data has caught up or not. A live forecast means the plan starts from where things actually stand.
Everysens 2026 market benchmark: European rail freight and the chemical industry

Which forecast are you missing?

You manage or lease a wagon fleet.
The question that costs you money is how many wagons will be available, by site and by wagon type, before you build the plan. Answering it late means dead freight, cancellations, and a safety margin sized for the worst week of the year.
See how wagon forecasting works
You hand rail over to your logistics providers, and still pay for what goes wrong.
You do not manage wagons, but the cancellation penalties, the storage and the working capital tied up in product waiting at the dock all land on your side. The question that costs you money is how much will actually be ready to load.
See how product forecasting works
Everysens was built from the ground up for industrial shippers, the companies whose goods move by rail. That focus is why RCF speaks the language of your sites, your loading windows and your contracts, rather than the language of carriers or forwarders.

From scattered signals to a plan you can trust

Resource Capacity Forecast (RCF) is a forecasting capability inside the Smart Planning module that projects the resources every train depends on: the wagons available to carry the load, and the product ready to be loaded. Because it lives inside your planning, it does not stop at a number. It connects each shortfall to the transports it puts at risk, and therefore to the orders and the customers behind them. And it lets you try a fix before committing, so the decision that holds is clear weeks ahead, not on the day
Smart Planning forecast screen with RALF alerts
RALF, Everysens' rail freight intelligence assistant, is what runs it. RALF reads wagon positions, schedules (both ways) and all incidents happening in between, maintenance status, the transport plan and your production flows, then turns them into a single forecast your planners can work from. When something moves, a late return, an unplanned immobilisation, a production window slipping, RALF surfaces it with the transports it affects.
Learn more about RALF
Step 1. See what is coming
A rolling view of wagon availability by site and wagon type, and of product ready to load by location and day, across the next 4 weeks, refreshed daily. Each projected shortfall is tied to the specific transports it affects, so you see not just that Tuesday is short at one site, but which trains, which orders and which customers are exposed.
4-week rolling forecast of wagon and product availability by site
Step 2. Play out the options before you commit
This is where a forecast earns its place. Take a shortfall three weeks out and try the options against it: reschedule the train, split or merge a load, pull a wagon type from another site, bring a spot transport in. RCF replays the whole plan for that week under each option and shows you which one actually holds, before anything is committed. You are no longer choosing in the dark on the day, you are comparing versions of next month and keeping the one that works.
Scenario simulation for a projected shortfall
Step 3. Act on the right lever
Every shortfall has more than one answer, and RCF puts them side by side. Reschedule, cancel before the penalty applies, simulate an alternative plan, secure a spot transport, or call the maintenance workshop to bring a wagon back sooner. The forecast does not just warn you, it shows you what you can still do about it.
Shortage alert with affected transports and available actions
Weekly transport planning view with a wagon shortage alert
The forecast works with the data you already have. When real-time information is available, it sharpens the picture further; when it has not been shared yet, RCF draws on planned dates, planned composition and known wagon positions to keep the forecast running. Either way, potential shortfalls surface days ahead, while there is still room to act. That is what the Everysens platform is built for: turning the many signals of rail into clear, timely decisions your team can make with confidence.
SWIF
SPIF

Smart Wagon Inventory Forecast (SWIF)

Know how many wagons will be available at each site, by wagon type, by loading status, before you build the plan.
Wagon inventory forecast by site and wagon type over 4 weeks
SWIF is the leading wagon availability forecast built for European industrial rail shippers. It connects wagon return schedules, maintenance status and transport demand into one availability figure per site, per wagon type, per day.
PAIN POINTS
The daily challenge
Delays surface too late
Wagons stay at customer sites longer than planned, and the delay only becomes visible once the return is already late.
Maintenance strikes without warning
Maintenance takes wagons out of the pool without advance warning to the planning desk.
Manual reconciliation, every week
Wagon positions, returns and maintenance status live in separate places. Today, bringing them together and turning them into a usable forecast is manual work, redone every week before planning can even begin.
Plans built on theory, not reality
On paper, the loading plan works. On the day, fewer wagons are actually usable than planned, and the tonnage target is missed.
Paying for a margin you didn't need
The safety margin absorbs all of it, and it costs money every week it turns out not to have been needed.
SOLUTION
What SWIF gives you
A rolling forecast, checked daily
A wagon inventory forecast by site, wagon type and loading status, on a 4-week rolling horizon, checked daily.
Early alerts, with context attached
Alerts when a site trends toward a shortage or an excess, with the affected transports attached.
Test before you decide
Scenario simulation, so a planner can test the decision before making it.
Fleet sizing grounded in reality
Fleet sizing based on observed availability rather than on a margin built to cover uncertainty.
When your wagons are predictable, your costs are controllable.
Watch how SWIF works
With SWIF, you know how many wagons will be available at each site before you build the plan. You can size your fleet on what actually returns, release the margin you no longer need, and act on a shortage while there is still time to reroute or bring a wagon back. Wagon availability stops being the number you chase and starts being the number you plan on.
SWIF
SPIF

Smart Product Inventory Forecast (SPIF)

Know how much will actually be ready to load, location by location, day by day.
Product availability forecast by loading location and by day
SPIF reads your production plan and your incoming flows and turns them into a load availability forecast, location by location, day by day. The shortfall surfaces while there is still room to act: rebalance across sites, move the slot, or complete the load from somewhere else.
PAIN POINTS
The daily challenge
Committed early, confirmed late
A train is committed days before it is loaded, and what is ready on the day rarely matches the plan, whether you ship vehicles, coils or a chemical batch.
Too little, and you pay for it
Too little product ready, and the train leaves with space you have already paid for, or falls below its contractual minimum, like a minimum vehicle clause in automotive.
Too much, and it sits on the dock
Too much, and product piles up at the dock with capital tied up in it.
Readiness lives in four different places
Readiness depends on inputs that live apart: the production plan, incoming flows, loading capacity per product on the yard, and the loading slots themselves. Bringing them together to see what will actually be ready is manual work, redone every week.
SOLUTION
What SPIF gives you
A forecast, by location and by day
A load availability forecast by location and by day, on a 4-week rolling horizon.
Early alerts, before the shortfall hits
An early alert when a site trends toward a shortfall or a surplus, with the affected transports attached.
A fix you can test before you commit
The ability to test a fix before committing to it: rebalance across sites, move a slot or top up from elsewhere, and see whether the load comes together.
Trains that leave full, on schedule
Trains that leave full, on schedule and within contract.
When your available loads are predictable, your trains are reliable.
Watch how SPIF works
With SPIF, you know how much will actually be ready to load before the train is committed. You can rebalance across sites, adjust a slot, or top up a load in time, so your trains leave full, on schedule, and within contract. Product readiness stops being the variable you discover on the day.

What this looks likeon a site loading 10 trains a week

Take a site that loads 10 trains a week, with 500 wagons in the pool serving it, and a safety margin sized to absorb what cannot be predicted.
At a 52% immobilisation rate, around 260 of those wagons are standing still at any given moment. The margin exists to cover the ones that come back later than expected, and it is sized on the hardest week of the year rather than the average one.
Reducing that margin by 5% is fewer wagons that no longer need to be on the books.

Cutting late cancellations by 15% is the difference between a train that leaves as planned and one that is called off at the dock, week after week.

And cutting dead freight by 20% is the difference between departing 2 wagons short and departing full, on every rotation.
Weekly transport planning view with a wagon shortage alert
None of this comes from moving trains faster. It comes from knowing on Thursday what Tuesday will actually look like. And because you can test the fix before the week arrives, you are not just warned that Tuesday is short, you already know which reschedule, which swap or which spot booking makes it whole.
Resource Capacity Forecast logo

fits the setup you already run

Already running a rail TMS?
SWIF and SPIF are available on their own. Public APIs feed planning, fleet, composition and ETA data in, and the alerts come back into the tool your team already uses.
Running on Excel and email?
You are not alone, and changing tools is a real investment of time and attention. Everysens implementations are configured around your sites, your data and your existing processes rather than the other way round. Much of what a forecast needs already lives in the documents you exchange every day, and the Doc Vault module brings them into one secure, structured place, so the data feeding SWIF and SPIF has a reliable home from the start.
Discover Doc Vault
Need the full planning setup?
RCF comes as part of the Everysens Rail TMS, with the tools your operation actually needs to act on what the forecast shows.
Let's talk

Take it from our clients

Meet the driving forces that transform the rail freight industry

Jérôme Becamel
Supply Chain Manager

With Everysens, we are able to transfer more trucks to rail, in order to reduce our CO2 emissions. We have already reduced them by 5%.

Youri Trinh
Refining and Chemicals, Supply Sales and Optimization, Germany

With Everysens' solution, we are digitising a complex process for planning our product shipments by rail, in order to better satisfy our customers while optimising our costs.

Aurélie Xantippe
Logistics Flow Coordinator, Rail Division

Working with Everysens has been a real discovery. Their solution in the field of rail geolocalisation is complete and is a major asset for monitoring our operations.

Amadou Sall
Rail Logistic Coordinator

It used to take me 1 week to know where a wagon was. Now, I can do it in 1 click.

Damien Roussel
Supply Chain Project Manager

We chose Everysens for their expertise in the rail environment, but also for the quality and interoperability of the solution, which allows us to create a single source of reliable data.

Jean-Marc Viallatte
VP Group Supply Chain

The digitalisation of our supply chain is one of the key areas to increase the quality of our customer service: it is one of our priorities. We wanted to be more proactive in managing the contingencies of rail transport which is essential to our customers for safe and responsible transport.

Nicolas Plouviez
Logistics Performance Manager

We’ve increased by 5% our rail operation productivity, and saved 30% of time spent on rail operations

Oetze Dusseljee
Global Category Manager Logistics

Everysens' innovative approach to digitalization has streamlined our shipment planning, making us more proactive in handling the complexities of rail transport. The dedication and expertise of the Everysens team have been instrumental in our Logistics Digitalization roadmap by swiftly delivering a tailored solution, demonstrating the value of genuine collaboration and innovative thinking in logistics.

Yves Antoine
Director Global Logistics Procurement

Everysens improves our service to our customers and provides them with more accurate and faster information on rail transport deliveries.

Hesitations?
Let’s clear them up!

Everything you need to know about the Resource Capacity Forecast.

Does SPIF only apply to the automotive industry?

No. It forecasts how much product will be ready to load at a given location on a given day, which applies wherever a train is committed before the goods are confirmed ready. Automotive is a clear case because of minimum vehicle clauses in transport contracts, and the same mechanism applies in steel, chemicals, agribusiness and building materials.

How is RCF different from real-time tracking?

Tracking tells you where a wagon is now. RCF looks ahead: it tells you how many wagons and how much product will be available at each site in the days and weeks to come. It also shows which transports and customers a shortfall would affect, and which options still hold if you act now. Tracking reports the present. RCF lets you plan and arbitrate the future.

Who uses Resource Capacity Forecast day to day?

Transport managers and planners, who use it to build a transport plan on confirmed availability rather than on estimates, and fleet managers, who use it to size the fleet on observed availability rather than on a safety margin. Typical usage is daily, with a small number of users making the arbitration decisions.

Can I test different scenarios before deciding with RCF?

Yes, and that is the real value of forecasting ahead rather than reacting on the day. When a shortfall shows up three weeks out, you can take it and try several responses against it: reschedule the train, change a composition, shift volume between sites, or bring in a spot transport. Each option plays out against the forecast, so you see the effect on the rest of the week before you commit to anything. You keep the version of the plan that holds, and you know why it holds.

Do I need SWIF to use SPIF?

No, they work independently and each answers a different question. In practice they reinforce each other: knowing what will be ready to load matters most when you also know what will be available to carry it.

Can I use SWIF or SPIF without the full Everysens platform?

Yes. Both are available on their own through public APIs that connect to an existing rail TMS, with alerts returned into the tool your team already uses. And if some of the data the forecast needs is not yet flowing from a system, Doc Vault gives you a secure, structured place to bring those documents together, so SWIF and SPIF can run even before every integration is in place. They are also available as part of the full Everysens Rail TMS for teams that want the planning and execution tools alongside the forecast.

What data does RCF need to run?

At minimum, planned transport dates and composition, origin and destination, and current wagon positions. Loading status, wagon damage, maintenance tickets and actual transport dates make the forecast sharper. For SPIF, it also draws on your production plan and incoming flows, along with the loading capacity available per product on the yard and your loading slots.

What if real-time data has not been shared yet?

RCF is designed to work with the data available to you. Real-time feeds make the forecast even sharper, and when they are not in place, it draws on planned dates, planned composition and known wagon positions to give you a dependable view to plan from. You get a working forecast from day one, and it only gets more precise as more data connects.

How accurate is the forecast with RCF?

RCF is built on your real operational data and refreshed every day, so its accuracy improves as it learns your sites and your flows. Like any forecast, it works best when the data feeding it is reliable, and a smaller set of dependable data serves you far better than a large one that is not. From there, RCF gives you a clear view of what to expect across the coming weeks and keeps it current: as conditions evolve, the forecast updates and highlights the transports affected, so you are always planning on the latest picture.

How long does it take to get started?

It depends on how you deploy RCF and on the systems you already have in place. Connected as a standalone forecast to an existing rail TMS, it builds on data that is already flowing, so setup is relatively quick. As part of the full Everysens platform, onboarding covers connecting your flows and configuring each site, which takes longer but sets you up end to end. In both cases, we map the timeline with you at the start and stay involved through go-live, so you know what to expect at each step.

How is RCF different from forecasting in an Excel sheet?

A spreadsheet gives you a snapshot, built by hand, accurate on the day someone updates it and ageing from that point on. RCF pulls your operational data automatically and refreshes the forecast every day, across every site at once. It flags where a shortfall is building and points to the transports concerned, so instead of maintaining the forecast, your team spends its time acting on it.

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