By 2050, Europe’s Green Deal aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 90% compared with 1990 levels. To meet that target, the European Union has begun a massive shift toward sustainable mobility, backed by ambitious policies and technical innovation to make rail transport more competitive and reliable.

Rail freight plays a critical role in moving goods efficiently and sustainably. But it is still hampered by time-consuming manual operations, limited digitalization and the longer delivery times that result.
 

One of the clearest examples of these limitations is brake testing. Brakes must be tested before each departure, a process that can take a crew anywhere from a few minutes to nearly an hour for a full train. Today, this relies on listening and visual checks performed manually along the length of the train. 
The Monitor project aims to address this by automating the process, making traffic safer and paving the way for predictive maintenance. Digitalized brake testing represents a major milestone in modernizing rail freight.

The French government is financing Monitor as part of its France 2030 investment plan, overseen by ADEME, the country’s Environment and Energy Management Agency.
 

The MONITOR project will use data to transform how freight trains are prepped, monitored and maintained.

The three consortium partners bring complementary skills to the table:

• Rail Logistics Europe will define operational needs, manage the consortium and coordinate execution on the ground.
• Wabtec Corporation, a railway equipment supplier, will design and engineer large-scale production of the onboard system and its diagnostic algorithms.
• The Régie des Transports Métropolitains (RTM), which operates Marseille’s regional transport network, will provide trains and infrastructure for real-world testing and experiments.

The MONITOR system uses a network of onboard sensors installed on each wagon. These measure several variables—brake pressure, axle temperature, vibrations, train configurations—and transmit the data to a locomotive control unit (LCU). Here information is aggregated and sent wirelessly to both a central unit installed in the locomotive, and to the driver via a tablet interface.

The entire system is powered by an autonomous energy source requiring no external power supply—a major technological achievement for non-motorized freight wagons.

Monitor strengthens rail’s position in the logistics chain and will deliver a wide range of benefits:

• Significantly reduces preparation time, improves on-time performance and limits unscheduled downtime for maintenance by digitalizing processes
• Makes operations safer and more reliable by automating repetitive tasks
• Cuts costs related to corrective actions, repairs and technical issues through predictive maintenance
• Boosts productivity and makes rail freight more competitive with road transport by reducing delays
• Improves working conditions, by reducing risks related to manual brake checks and making freight jobs more attractive
• Makes the sector more attractive to future generations of engineers and technicians
• Helps cut emissions of CO₂ and other pollutants by limiting periods when locomotives run at low speeds and by extending components’ service life