Crude-by-Rail to Be Made Safer and Less Expensive By Industrial Internet of Things Technology (IoT)
TransRail
Innovation Group’s (TRIG) XLOAD sensor has been certified by
the Association
of American Railroads (AAR) to begin pilot trials on rail
tank cars shipping hazardous commodities like crude oil and refined fuels
CALGARY, Alberta–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Calgary-based, TRIG, is proud to announce that their XLOAD is the first
digital sensor to be certified by the AAR to measure and track hazardous
commodities inside of moving tank cars. Furthermore, TRIG operates the
only digital manufacturing facility of its kind in North America to be
certified to the M-1002
and M-1003 standards by the AAR to build this type of sensor
technology for use with hazardous commodities inside of moving tank cars.
“The M1002 and M1003 is a quality assurance program that has been
developed by the AAR to aid in compliance to the rail industry safety
and reliability standards that are set out by the Federal Railroad
Association in the U.S. and Transport Canada”, said Kent Duncan, TRIG
Quality Assurance Manager.
The sensor’s patented measurement and monitoring technology and wireless
data communications helps produce a ‘Safer and Smarter Tank Car’. As an
example, it is used by shippers to automatically detect, measure, and
report on the specific level and volume of crude oil that is loaded into
and unloaded out of a closed and sealed tank car. This replaces the
industry standard, inaccurate, inefficient, and risky measurement method
that requires an operator to open a tank car and manually inspect the
levels and volumes of the toxic commodity inside of the tank car.
This poor visibility of the commodity levels inside of tank cars causes
the industry to chronically under fill cars by an average of 5%. This is
done to avoid the danger of overfilling the tank cars. Shippers can now
safely increase those fill levels by leveraging the accuracy of the
sensor’s measurements inside of a closed tank car. And, properly filling
tank cars eliminates the danger of under filled and unbalanced rail tank
cars. Unbalanced rail tank cars have a greater risk of derailment.
TRIG has begun pilot trials with four refineries and shippers located in
Canada and the US. “Two of our primary pilot trial objectives are to
determine, consistently and with accuracy, the additional volume of oil
that can be loaded into our customers’ tank cars, and to prove that our
smart tank cars are the safest in the industry.” said Rob Tasker, TRIG
CEO. “The increased volume that we can safely load into our customer’s
cars will reduce their transportation cost of every barrel of oil they
transport to their North American customers”.
Also, the sensor’s modern GPS technology pin points the real time
location of where the tank car and its hazardous commodity ‘is’. This is
a significant safety advantage over the current industries’ older and
slower method that only reports on where a rail car ‘was’ in the
previous 24 hours. Shippers benefit by being automatically alerted to
the location of their hazardous commodities when close to sensitive
areas like cities. And, the sensor automatically alerts them to
hazardous commodity leaks and thefts, and other issues.
About TransRail Innovation Group
TransRail Innovation Inc. (“TRIG”) designs and produces Industrial
Internet of Things technology for the rail industry. It is committed to
solving health, safety, and environment, economic and regulatory issues
affecting North America’s hazardous liquids rail transportation industry.
Contacts
TransRail Innovation Group
Peter Stunden, 403-612-6395
VP,
Marketing & Sales
[email protected]
