Many items on a locomotive endure general wear and tear, and locomotive batteries are no exception. Even well-maintained and replaced batteries can experience troubles starting the locomotive. The regular starting of a locomotive can cause damage to batteries and reduce their lifespan, resulting in frequent replacement and reduced lifespan. But, there is a simple solution:
Supercapacitors to the rescue!
Are you getting the most out of your axle generator?
As a critical component of locomotive operation, a reliable axle generator directly affects fleet availability. It’s important that an axle generator operate effectively, efficiently, and with longevity. Here’s what you need to look for in a reliable axle generator:
Who’s on your RIoT Team?
When you’re implementing and maintaining a Railway IoT (RIoT) strategy, there are a few key components you’ll want to make sure you put in place. It’s important to have a comprehensive solution that delivers benefits across your organization to drive strategic insights and operational improvements. It’s equally important to consider the support behind the strategy:
The team
Want to better understand how your fleet is performing?
Whether you're just starting your Railway IoT journey or you've already covered a lot of distance, here are six steps to help evaluate your needs and make sure you keep moving foward.
1. Pinpoint problem areas
Identify issues in your fleet that you'd like to better understand or problems you want to solve. For example:
Give your locomotive batteries the gift of extra energy with ZTR's KickStart™. It has revolutionized locomotive starting power with supercapacitor technology.
Cold environments, drained batteries, long charging times – they’re no match for KickStart.
Want maximum business value with minimum investment?
Optimize your 2019 budget with ZTR’s highest value upgrades.
ZTR knows railroads need to see the true value in product upgrades and modernization solutions.
That's why we put together our Five Most Valuable Upgrades.
How much of your revenue dollars are being diverted to capital expenditures and maintenance expenses?
Did you know that since 1980, American railroad companies have been spending more than 40 cents out every revenue dollar¹ on locomotives, infrastructure and equipment costs? That’s more than $660 billion and it’s a huge investment.
At ZTR we know railroads need to see the true value in product upgrades and modernization solutions.
What is Railway IoT?
Railway Internet of Things (IoT) uses asset connectivity, remote diagnostics and precise position monitoring to improve the efficiency of railway operations through data driven analytics and decision-making.
Railway IoT can be applied to your fleet of locomotives or can also include all of your rail yard equipment and Maintenance of Way assets for a holistic view of your railway. You can find a more in depth explanation about Railway IoT here.
What is Railway IoT?
The phrase “Internet of Things” (IoT) describes the connection of devices to the internet and to each other. Although a seemingly simple concept, it has now become more complex with the vast network of physical devices, industrial vehicles, home appliances and a myriad of other items that are now able to connect and exchange data with each other and the internet.
The IoT can also allow objects to be sensed or controlled remotely, across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for improved efficiency.
Locomotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) provide many numbers when it comes to measuring locomotive performance. Locomotive horsepower (HP), starting tractive effort and continuous tractive effort are just some examples of locomotive performance; however, it isn’t clear what this really means for railways. ZTR can provide a tractive effort analysis that contains clear, real-world information on how your locomotives can be utilized for peak performance.
