DB Cargo and GE Transportation Expand Rail's Digital Footprint in Europe

DB Cargo and GE Transportation have signed an agreement to digitize 250 locomotives across Germany, U.K., France and Poland over the next five years. This marks GE Transportation’s first-ever European digital contract and a major milestone in the company’s efforts to create self-aware locomotives and digitize the entire rail operation value chain. The partnership also marks the first time non-GE locomotives have been equipped with GE digital solutions.

The deal follows a three-month pilot of GE Transportation’s RailConnect 360 Asset Performance Management Solution, which provided locomotive health status updates that increased efficiency and delivered a 25 percent reduction in service failures.

“Our pilot with GE Transportation delivered significant improvement in fleet availability and reduced the number of  service failures — factors critical to our operations and delivering goods across the global supply chain,” said Steffen Bobsien, senior vice president European asset management & technology for DB Cargo AG. “We look forward to extending GE’s solutions for these 250 locos — and the positive outcomes they deliver — across our fleet.”

“The digital industrial future is here and the need to turn information into insights and insights into outcomes has never been more important to our customers. With this performance-based contract for remote monitoring and diagnostics of non-GE locomotives, we are completely changing the business model,” said GE Transportation CEO Jamie Miller. “We are committed to helping engineers and rail operators, like DB Cargo, make the most of their assets by delivering game-changing productivity and efficiency gains.”

Built on the Predix Industrial Internet platform, GE’s Asset Performance Management applications give industrial businesses like DB Cargo a complete, integrated view of their equipment, helping operators make more informed decisions and improve the performance of their assets.