Finnish transport agency (Liikennevirasto) selects Vilant GEN2 RFID system

Liikennevirasto, the body responsible for the management, development and maintenance of the Finnish railway network, has announced Europe's largest train identification system with passive RFID covering the whole of Finnish state rail network. Vilant has won a contract to install 120 specialised RFID reader units, and integrate them into Liikennevirasto's detector network.
June 19, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
5949 Liikennevirasto, the body responsible for the management, development and maintenance of the Finnish railway network, has announced Europe's largest train identification system with passive RFID covering the whole of Finnish state rail network. 5950 Vilant has won a contract to install 120 specialised RFID reader units, and integrate them into Liikennevirasto's detector network.

The new, highly reliable railway tracking system aims to improve safety and service of operations on Finnish railroads. It provides real-time monitoring of trains passing at all speeds, up to 250 km/h, and even in the most remote areas utilising the GPRS network.

During a one-year pilot, Vilant worked together with Liikennevirasto to provide a solution based on passive GEN2 RFID technology. Four Vilant RFID Reader Units were installed in different locations by the Finnish railroad. These units were used to collect information from the rail cars passing on the tracks, as well as combine it with information from the detector system. They work over the mobile network and can be placed in remote locations without loss of accuracy. Even untagged wagons linked to RFID tagged trains are registered in the system and reported on.

"The results of the pilot were most satisfactory," says Seppo Mäkitupa, senior officer at Liikennevirasto. "Vilant was able to show that the RFID System is reliable and working with almost 100 per cent accuracy. This convinced us that passive GEN2 RFID technology works and we can start to take advantage of the benefits it offers."

Liikennevirasto will be one of the world's first organisations in the industry to implement passive RFID technology which is claimed to be a more cost efficient way that also has a longer lifetime than active RFID technology.

The main benefits of the system are real-time monitoring of rolling stock for accurate tracking and identification of rail traffic as well as full exploitation of the data registered by the fault-detection system. This enables preventive maintenance for improved safety of railway operations. For example, it links data accurately to an over heated axle bearing, the wagon and the train it belongs to as the fault occurs. As a result, the bearing can be replaced before it breaks. The system also enables database formation and sharing of data with operators who own the trains. For example, it informs them about the exact location and arrival time of their trains.

Networking & Communication Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Wireless bridges widen options for ITS upgrades
    December 9, 2014
    Antaira Technologies’ marketing engineer Brian Roth explains why the increasing capacity of wireless bridges is reducing the cost of expanding and upgrading ITS networks. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, the need for efficient transportation of both people and goods has never been greater and that pressure is unlikely to ease any time soon. Indeed in many regions of the world the rate of urbanisation is still increasing as the demand for rural workers continues to decline.
    Read More
  • Heavy weather: how ITS can mitigate climate change effects
    August 22, 2023
    Countries, regions and cities all over the world are seeing unprecedented extreme weather events causing destruction in different ways: from heat and wildfires to snow and floods and much else in between. Jon Tarleton of Baron Weather explains how the ITS industry can help the transportation network to remain efficient as the climate changes
    Read More
  • US Cities push for smarter poles
    June 25, 2018
    US Cities The need to connect existing infrastructure has led various US transit authorities into imaginative alleyways: David Crawford examines some new roles for street furniture. US cities are vying with each other in developing schemes to create a new generation of connected places. Their strategies include taking advantage of their streetlight poles’ height and ubiquity to give them new roles in supporting intelligent nodes. They are now being equipped for collecting real-time data on key transport
    Read More
  • Bringing V2I and V2V communications to workzone safety
    January 26, 2012
    Imran Hayee of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering talks about efforts to bring V2I and V2V communications into work zones. With USDOT backing and under the auspices of the ITS Joint Program Office Connected Vehicle Research (formerly IntelliDrive) research programme, M. Imran Hayee of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering along with team of his students, have been conducting research into the application of
    Read More

Highlighted Content