Trimble partners with the Railhead Corporation to bring field-proven real-time remote diagnostics system to North American rail markets

Trimble announced March 9, 2017 that it is partnering with Illinois-based Railhead Corporation to integrate real-time remote monitoring, diagnostics and on-board video to maximize locomotive asset utilization and productivity for railway operators. This combination will provide a complete picture of rail asset status to improve tracking, safety and operations. As part of the collaboration, Railhead will also offer the Trimble® R2M remote diagnostic system as part of its portfolio in the U.S.

First released in Europe nearly a decade ago, the Trimble R2M system is currently in use with a broad range of large rail operators including South West Trains and Greater Anglia in the United Kingdom, Irish Rail, VR Finland and others. The system processes multiple data feeds from on-train event recording equipment to deliver fault alerts as they occur to control rooms and repair shops for effective condition-based maintenance and train operations management. With Trimble R2M, railroads know where assets are at all times and can benefit from real-time condition-based reporting on the health status of on-board systems.

With more than 5,000 installations to date, Railhead is a pioneer in on-board video systems for locomotives and cab cars. Its rugged high-definition Locomotive Digital Video Recorders (LDVR) hardware is Association of American Railways (AAR) approved and MIL-SPEC rated for the locomotive environment. The system provides quality, high-definition (HD) watermarked video that is reliable and can be used for documentation purposes for compliance and litigation. Railhead's portfolio also includes an advanced interface module, and an on-board condition monitoring device that can connect to a large number of on-board train signals and systems. The Railhead portfolio is scalable and modular allowing customers to expand the solution and hardware investment as needed.

Trimble and Railhead will integrate video data streams from Railhead's LDVR together with system data feeds from multiple on-train devices using the Trimble R2M system. The result is a solution that enables railroads to add real-time data to the control room overview. This combined remote management and diagnostic solution will give a complete picture of rail asset status to the mechanical department, emergency personnel, engineers and operators to improve maintenance and operations. Access to this critical data can enhance the railway operators' ability to make informed decisions in real time.

"We are very excited to partner with Trimble," said Joe Donnan, president of Railhead Corporation. "The addition of the Trimble R2M solution to the Railhead portfolio gives us the ability to leverage Trimble's years of experience in Europe together with our advanced LDVR capability and advanced interface modules to provide U.S. rail operators with a competitive and proven asset management solution."

"For years, many of the largest rail operators in Europe have relied on the Trimble R2M remote diagnostic system as their rail asset management solution for train operations," said John O'Sullivan, managing director of Trimble Railway Limited. "It is great to work with Railhead as part of the introduction of the Trimble R2M solution to the North American markets and collaborate to create a combined solution that can enable rail operators to transform and improve efficiencies in their operations."

About Trimble

Trimble is transforming the way the world works by delivering products and services that connect the physical and digital worlds. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity, and data analytics enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. From purpose built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble software, hardware and services are transforming a broad range of industries such as agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation and logistics.