Frankfurt, September 10th, 2024 – With the launch of the Resource Sharing Broker (RSB) project, Rail-Flow, Fraunhofer IML and BELog are jointly setting new standards in rail freight transport. The RSB is a digital platform for daily, weekly or monthly locomotive rental. The platform simplifies and accelerates locomotive rental through smart data integration and tailor-made process support. The two-year trial of RSB is funded with around €1.86 million by the federal program “Zukunft Schienengüterverkehr” (Z-SGV), a program of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. The project aims to significantly improve the competitiveness of rail freight transport through the digitalization of rental processes.

The current utilization of locomotives in the rail freight transport is less than 70% – a challenge that is intensified by the lack of an efficient digital infrastructure. The RSB creates an unprecedented platform for the exchange of free capacity and needs, which connects locomotive lessors and renters more effectively. The focus of the platform is on fast, transparent contract conclusions and the digitalization of the entire rental process from request to handover to invoicing, which results in higher asset utilization and optimized locomotive availability.

Through efficient search functions and targeted brokerage, the RSB enables renters to react flexibly to peaks in demand. This leads to additional traffic and a significant increase in sales. For locomotive lessors, the RSB also simplifies and accelerates the process, significantly reduces manual effort and increases profitability through optimized utilization of the locomotives. In addition to brokering locomotives, the platform also includes drawing up contracts, digitally recording the handover and calculating the outstanding costs – all in one central digital location.

On September 25th at 9:30 a.m., Rail-Flow will provide an insight in German into the optimized process of locomotive rental through the innovative RSB platform during InnoTrans. The project will be presented in more detail and participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with project participants and industry players. Since places are limited, interested parties should register early using the link here.

Anyone interested in helping to shape the project in a positive way is invited to turn to the project contact.

About Rail-Flow

The freight-tech scale-up Rail-Flow, with more than 90 employees, increases efficiency and simplifies access to rail freight and intermodal transport. The Rail-Flow platform offers innovative marketplace, collaboration, CRM and transport management solutions along the entire value chain of rail logistics. This accelerates processes, strengthens the competitiveness of rail and supports the reduction of CO2 emissions by shifting traffic from road to rail. Over 500 freight railways, rail freight forwarders, intermodal operators, shippers and truck forwarders already rely on Rail-Flow solutions.

About Fraunhofer IML

The Fraunhofer IML is considered the first choice for holistic logistics research and works in all fields of internal and external logistics. In addition to material flow technology, business process modelling and the areas of transport systems and resource logistics, current research focuses on artificial intelligence, smart finance and the ‘Internet of Things’. Fraunhofer IML is also working on the implementation of a decentralised, federal and open platform economy in Germany and Europe with the large-scale research project Silicon Economy. The management of the Fraunhofer-Alliance Transport, in which 23 Fraunhofer institutes and facilities pool their transport-related expertise, is also based in Dortmund.

About BELog Baustoffe- Entsorgung-Logistik GmbH & Co. KG

BELog has been responsible for the SCHWENK building materials group’s rail logistics since 2019. We ensure the smooth transport of bulk and loose goods such as sand, gravel, soil, stone, cement and clinker by rail. With a modern fleet of a dozen mainline locomotives and several hundred freight wagons, we ensure the security of supply for our sister companies. By optimizing transport routes and using efficient logistics solutions, BELog helps to minimize energy consumption and emissions for a sustainable future. Our company is based in Halle (Saale).

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