ZTR and BlackBerry announce digital remote railcar monitoring solution

Credit: ZTR

After recognising that there was an immediate industry need for a remote railcar monitoring solution that could withstand the rugged conditions of the railway, provide greater fleet insights and operate with extended battery life, ZTR and BlackBerry Limited have decided to leverage their mutual strengths.

The new partnership between the two companies combines ZTR’s decades of railway industry expertise, world-class technical support and railway Internet of Things (IoT) experience with BlackBerry’s industry-leading communication technology, battery management, security, and hardware capabilities.

CEO and President of ZTR, Sam Hassan, said: “We’re always looking ahead to anticipate customer needs and improve availability, reliability and efficiency through innovation, so it made sense for two technically-savvy businesses to join together to deliver greater customer value.”

The new monitoring product is an end-to-end solution that helps railcar customers achieve increased efficiency. Available through an intuitive online dashboard, the service includes location, utilisation and mileage data for railcars and other non-powered railway assets.

Christopher Plaat, Senior Vice President and General Manager of BlackBerry Radar®, said: “Known as the railway experts, ZTR were the perfect partner to help expand the reach of our asset monitoring solution in an otherwise underserved market and one in which visibility and fleet insights can make a major difference in railway profitability. Together with ZTR, we share a vision to bring digital transformation to the railroads so that they can make better, data-driven decisions that lead to greater fleet efficiency.”

Backed by the strength of partnership and expertise, the new railcar product is the solution customers have been waiting for. Now, with solid location information, they’ll be able to realise huge efficiency gains through analytics and reporting, and get unparalleled visibility into their operations, allowing them to optimise asset utilisation.