For this to work, in addition to locomotives, wagons, train paths and personnel, we need one thing above all else: data. It will be difficult to get more freight onto the rails if we don't have reliable information about the availability and utilization of the rail network and equipment.

Why is data so important? The volume of transport in Germany is set to grow to 5 billion tons by 2040 – but the infrastructure is already working at full capacity. Without data-driven management and the necessary closer cooperation between the players, there is a risk of bottlenecks instead of growth.

What do we need? In the latest issue of “Internationales Verkehrswesen”, Prof. Ralf Elbert and Ren Kajiyama have jointly analyzed how capacity utilization data has been collected and used in rail freight transport to date. What we need are standardized solutions for the automated collection and use of utilization data – both for the rail network and for the equipment.

The research project “MONI ” is all about data. Here you can find out more about how we are developing new ways of collecting utilization data in rail transport.