TraxSystem at a plant with a railway siding

Why wagons stay in a spreadsheet

Software for managing traffic on a site grew up around the truck. It knows the gate, the dock, the driver and the number plate, but it has no concept of a track, a train consist or a UIC number, so a plant with a siding does not use it for rail.

Rail stays in the spreadsheet because there was no other tool for it. The result is double entry, records that drift apart and no single picture of what the plant is receiving.

Wagons and trucks in one log

In TraxSystem, wagons with UIC numbers, train consists, track occupancy and the making up of trains are handled in the same system that registers vehicle entries. The rail module is described in detail on the Rail traffic page; for the plant, three effects matter most.

The first is a single supply report. A report for any period shows what came in, whether by wagon or by truck, and it is usually the first report customers build after the rollout.

The second is a single weighbridge record. Wagon and truck weights come from the same weighing module and go into the same documents.

The third is a separate portal for each carrier: the road haulier books its delivery in one, the rail carrier notifies its consist in the other, and each sees only its own data (portals).

Scope and order of the rollout at a plant with a siding

A plant with a siding usually has every problem a manufacturing plant has, plus one more: the railway. Inductions for outside staff, entry records, security patrols and access control work there just as they do anywhere else, so a TraxSystem deployment usually covers more than the railway alone.

The order, on the other hand, is often the reverse of other plants. Since it is the wagons that live in a spreadsheet, the rollout often starts with them, and road traffic follows in a second phase.

What TraxSystem does not do on the siding

TraxSystem does not control rail traffic and does not replace signalling equipment, signals or points: it is a tool for records and planning. It does not exchange data automatically with rail carriers’ systems, so the exchange happens through the portal and manual data entry. It does not weigh wagons by itself, and it does not manage shunting or train drivers.

Related

Rail trafficWeighingVehicle entry controlPortals

Further reading: Why yard systems do not handle wagons · UIC wagon number and wagon list · Booking a rail delivery in the carrier portal

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