Big railroads equal big data

One of the latest business buzzwords to hit the street is the term “big data.”  You’ll hear this term used in reference to nearly all types of business activity, including online shopping, health care, manufacturing, and even railroading.  “Big data” essentially refers to the tremendous amount of data that can be collected through computers as companies conduct their daily business, and how they use that data to improve performance.  Now that the evolution of computerization in our society has reached the point where information technology is such a critical part of business infrastructure, and computers have become very powerful, companies are leveraging opportunities to gather data that couldn’t be gathered before, and using it to identify trends associated with everything healthcare outcomes to wheel wear on rail cars.

Railroads have a maze of detection systems along their lines, including ones that look for hot boxes, dragging equipment, and a myriad of other performance and safety monitoring devices on locomotives and freight cars.  Modern computer systems can gather all of this data and look for trends that can alert planners to possible problems that, if left unaddressed, could spell trouble over time.  Track inspection vehicles also gather a lot of data during inspection runs, and this data is used to predict wheel and rail wear, helping planners proactively determine when something needs to be repaired or replaced.  This helps put railroads in a proactive mode instead of a reactive mode.  Obviously, it is much better to proactively identify a potential problem and correct it before it causes trouble, than it is to react to a problem, such as a rail break or wheel failure, which causes a derailment, and rail cars are on the ground.

Railroads are among our most information technology-intensive businesses, using big data to analyze everything from the engineering and operational performance of the railroad, to trends and developments around various lines of business, which provides a big boost to marketing efforts.  You’ll hear more about big data as time goes by, and in all types of businesses.  Remember, though, that big railroads, along with the industry as a whole, are generating big data 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and this data is used to make the railroad safer, more efficient, and more profitable.  So, if you have friends who think railroads are essentially a 19^th-century industry, and the only significant change was the switch from steam to diesel at the mid-point of the 20^th century, tell ‘em about the industry’s big computers and big data.

Pick up the November issue to read David Lester's story on how technology keeps railroaders and shippers updated in real time.