Advancement In Rail Freight Transportation
In the era of freight transportation, ocean and air shipping play a major role in the logistics industry, but there’s one more mode that is usually underestimated – rail. Rail freight transportation has experienced dormancy from the 1980’s.
The logistics world is varying, and it feels like rail is making a major comeback these days. Latest technology as well as innovations is altering every industry and all transportation modes.
There are different changes and shifts in the logistics industry that leads to new demands and the requirement to deploy various transportation modes. Issues in the industry, such as the increasing demand of capacity, gas emissions, and the aging generation of drivers are the vital issues most logistics professionals face. Opting rail transportation for the freight may probably solve some of these issues.
- Greener Transportation
- Technology
- Safety
The most common advantage of rail over trucking is being less destructive to the environment. Rail can hold a much higher volume of freight as well as goes through a solid route than other transportation methods. Moreover, automation and faster transit times, in general, cause fewer carbon emissions into the environment.
Eventually, rail can be an immense logistics solution for the business. It is continuously developing into a better way to transport goods and is an eco-friendly and well-organized solution among other transportation methods for your freight.
Latest technology innovations in rail transportation are at the point of development. Automation, big data, driver-less trains, IoT and artificial intelligence are the new tools striking rail transportation. For instance, the automated system PTC is previously used by 83.2% of the required Class I route miles nationwide and will be completely active by 2020. A number of efforts are driven towards eliminating human labor as well as human errors.
As per the latest research on railroads, the rate of accidents on railroads has lessened by 23% since 1980. There are continuously higher investments being made into rail infrastructure that are raising the safety and efficiency of rail transportation. Rail provides a higher safety level due to less human involvement and the absence of highway congestion. Different technologies are being applied to enhance safety, one of them being Positive Train Control (PTC) – an automated system that slows or halts the train in the case of possible accident or human error.
