Page 9 - Hafen Hamburg | Port of Hamburg Magazine 4.2022

the state of the tide, the current – everything is
Railwatch from Bonn has developed a measuring system that can conjure up the twin of a freight measured by sensors,” explains Ulrich Baldauf, an
train – while this is passing. The background: Nor- information specialist responsible for Research &
Development at HPA. In addition, all ship move-
mally, a wagon master is expected to march up and down all sides of freight trains standing ready to de- ments are known through AIS – the Automatic Iden-
part from a terminal, whatever the weather, and to tification System, along with the times required for
the cargo discharge. This facilitates optimization of
check them manually for damage. If he detects something wrong, then the freight car affected processes. “We also have a twin of the road traf-
needs to be shunted out of the 600-metre train – a fic,” he says. This in its turn knows the score on
traffic and the state of the roads in the port.
time consuming and cost-intensive process.
Until now, all these clones have simply been used in-
“Along the track, we can scan trains at a distance of up to eight metres and use HD photos to discover dividually. “However, we see great potential for com-
the technical state of the locomotives or freight bining all the individual twins in a Total Port Twin,”
says Baldauf. “The aim would be to establish what im-
cars,” says Tobias Frede, COO/CTO for Railwatch. On arrival, a damaged wagon will no longer even be pact, for example, a delayed ship arrival or a bridge
positioned for the onward journey. In Europe’s pub- closure makes on road traffic or emissions. It should
be possible to create overarching monitoring and to
lic rail network, the company has already installed 25 of its ‘Pulsar’ measuring systems. These can al- specifically intervene where something is occurring.”
so recognize UIC wagon numbers and lettering and
The HPA also wishes to use this data for strategic
hazardous goods warning panels.
port planning. Differing scenarios, for instance, can be simulated for the utilization of a new area, e.g., whether it would make more sense to build a hydro- gen or a container terminal there, or better to put up a warehouse. Each case would have differing reper- cussions on marine and road traffic, costs and emissions. These can be calculated in advance.
MEASURING SYSTEM PRODUCES THE DATA
Similarly, this technology is already in use outside the port. For instance, the relatively new company
“To be able to create a digital twin, we require all the details of a wagon, the number of axles and dis- tance between them, and goods loaded, which our system digitalizes and automatically captures dur- ing transit,” explains Frede. For instance, this ena- bles Railwatch to calculate how long a brake block will still last before needing to be changed. “The system also determines whether a wheel rim in- cludes a flat spot,” he adds. This is discerned acous- tically, since if a wheel is making a din, then some-
© HPA AöR & MKP GmbH
THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ■
Every element fitted with a sensor can be continuously monitored
Port of Hamburg Magazine | December 2022 | 09