CFL's Innovation Journey with Scalable IoT Platform
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Machine Learning
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Buildings
- Transportation
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Smart Parking
- Track & Trace of Assets
Services
- System Integration
- Training
About The Customer
Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL) is Luxembourg’s national rail company. In 2020, they served 14.5 million passengers and transported 2.3 million tonne-kilometers of freight. They employed over 3,000 people making them one of the country’s largest employers. CFL manages trains, buildings, and other assets that are often equipped with high-tech sensors and control systems that generate large quantities of data every day. The company sees digital transformation and the adoption of innovative technologies as a key enabler for next-generation rail services and improved customer experience.
The Challenge
Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL), Luxembourg’s national rail company, was faced with the challenge of improving customer experience and increasing efficiency by leveraging the vast amount of data generated by their trains and infrastructure. As one of the country's largest employers, with over 3,000 employees, CFL served 14.5 million passengers and transported 2.3 million tonne-kilometers of freight in 2020. The company needed to balance the management of track, rolling stock, station buildings, and other infrastructure with the needs of its passengers and freight customers. To explore emerging technologies like robotics, multimedia, unified communications, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, CFL established a new department within its IT organization, known as Operational Technology. The challenge was to turn the large quantities of data generated by high-tech sensors and control systems into actionable insights with real business value.
The Solution
CFL decided to build a flexible and scalable IoT platform. After evaluating several vendors, they chose Hitachi Lumada Data Integration, delivered by Pentaho, as the core of their new IoT platform. The Operational Technology team began by porting CFL’s existing IoT solutions over to Lumada Data Integration, which not only proved the technical capabilities of the new platform but also led to savings of several thousand Euros per month by cancelling subscriptions to external IoT vendors. The team then started developing new IoT use cases. For instance, CFL started using Lumada to capture video data from CCTV cameras in its station parking lots and apply artificial intelligence to predict the number of parking spaces that will be available. Another use case involved using onboard sensors to monitor the water levels in real time, ensuring compliance with German railway regulations when trains cross the border from Luxembourg into Germany.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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