Testimonials Orange Business directs NMBS travellers to the right carriage

A few years ago, when a train arrived at the platform, passengers didn’t know where to find the bike carriages, accessible boarding areas or first-class seats. Today, this information is immediately available in the journey planner on the NMBS website and app. This is the result of the TRACO (Train Composition) project, which aimed to put an end to unclear communication.

One source of data

"Before 2020, passengers who had questions about train composition could receive up to four different answers," explains Jan Claeys, business manager at train operator NMBS during the TRACO project. "The train driver, conductor, station announcements and information screens on the platforms could all provide different information."

The reason? There were several sources of information about train composition and only part of the carriages were equipped with a GPS tracker. This was not sustainable, so NMBS wanted to integrate every source, reuse the available information as much as possible and develop a solution to provide missing data.

Proof of concept

GPS technology alone proved insufficient, as it cannot detect whether carriages are connected or if trains are travelling on parallel tracks. "Especially when hundreds of carriages are in the same area, GPS is not accurate enough," says Claeys. "So we knew that we needed additional technology. In our request for information for the project tender, we asked for coupling detection without specifying the technology to be used."

Several parties submitted proposals to develop the TRACO project and, at NMBS’s request, also developed a proof of concept. "This had to give management confirmation that the investment would create real value,” says Claeys. “Orange Business, with Ubidata, ultimately won the tender. Among other things, the strong proof of concept gave us the confidence we needed."

Experience in road transport

"Ubidata already had experience with similar projects in road transport," explains CEO Paul Havelange. "We had successfully used Bluetooth to detect the connection between a trailer and a truck. We concluded that this was also the best technology to make the connection between train carriages visible."

Passenger reactions were very positive from the start.

Ubidata installed two devices in each carriage that can independently detect connections with other carriages. These devices also collect important diagnostic data for carriage maintenance. Each one is equipped with an Orange SIM card, allowing data to be sent centrally to NMBS.

"GPS and Bluetooth are standard technologies, but they have many parameters that can be fine-tuned to ensure optimal performance," says Havelange. "This was partly the challenge in this project. Trains are an environment with a lot of metal, which can interfere with the wireless transmission of signals from both technologies. However, thanks to our experience and expertise, in both hardware and firmware, we were able to optimise all the parameters. We also ensured that the solution could be easily installed by NMBS technicians."

Passenger information and incident follow-up

Every carriage will be traceable by the end of this year. Since April 2024, the composition data has already been reliable enough to be displayed on the NMBS website and app. "Passenger reactions have been very positive from the start," says Claeys. "They often consult this information when they are waiting on the platform."

NMBS also uses the carriage information internally, for example to follow up on incidents. Claeys: "In the event of an incident, we can now locate the affected carriage more quickly." The solution also brings another benefit to internal operations. The current infrastructure can support the development of additional applications, for example to predict when a carriage requires maintenance or to measure how many passengers are on board.

End-to-end integrator

Orange Business was not only the supplier of the SIM cards used in this project, but it also acted as an end-to-end integrator. "Orange Business monitored the entire project and ensured that the required deadlines were met," says Claeys. "This allowed us to monitor our entire fleet of carriages within the relatively short timeframe of three years and in a cost-efficient way."

Orange Business garandeerde dat de deadlines gerespecteerd werden."Orange Business ensured that deadlines were met." 

Both Orange Business and Ubidata consider the implementation of a proof of concept as part of their proposal an important factor in the success of the project. "A proof of concept is not standard practice and involved a risk of delays. However, it allowed us to know exactly what we needed before the contract was awarded. This significantly reduced the risks during implementation," Claeys says. 

Havelange agrees: "Although this proof of concept required additional work before we were certain of the contract, it also resulted in clearly defined objectives and technical choices that made the final implementation and the collaboration with NMBS and Orange Business easier."