Grup Feroviar Român (GFR) launches TRASA Expert (Train path Expert), the first digital system for optimal tracing of freight trains

The solution can be used by both transport operators and the railway infrastructure manager, CFR S.A.

The digital arm of Grup Feroviar Român (GFR) has developed and implemented TRASA Expert, an information system aimed at improving the design of ideal train paths and the capacity allocated to freight trains.

The design of the ideal train paths (the optimal diagram distance-time for operating a train) is based on calculations and technological needs, and the accuracy of these calculations is essential for an efficient and predictable freight transport.

TRASA Expert extends the benefits of the ETA Expert application, which provides real time estimations of trains’ arrival at destination, and can be a useful tool for both transport operators and CFR SA, the railway infrastructure manager and timetable traffic architect.

“We have extended the GFR fully-developed portfolio of digital services with a tool that can restore the authority of the timetable, considering that rail freight transport in Romania today is often subject to chance,” said Amedeo Neculcea, Deputy General Manager with Grup Feroviar Român.

“Once again, GFR proves to be an open partner for dialogue, seeking and proposing concrete solutions aimed at improving the quality of services provided by the railway transport system to society. We are aware that this qualitative leap can only be achieved together (all transport operators and CFR), through dialogue and bringing good ideas together, for the same purpose.”

TRASA Expert is a complex diagnostic system using railway traffic information spanning over the past 3 years to generate statistical mathematical-based solutions, as well as eloquent synthetic representations of planned and real train traffic, respectively.

Alongside engineers Amedeo Neculcea and Nicolae Hurdubae, other talented engineers from GFR and Institutul de Tehnică de Calcul, a member company of the GRAMPET Group, contributed to the development of this innovative system.

“As a regional leader, GFR plays a key role for Romania’s positioning within the European industry,” says Gruia Stoica, President and founder of the GRAMPET Group – Grup Feroviar Român.

“We have been investing in innovation since 2005, constantly looking for solutions that may generate higher performance and competitiveness for all operators. Our hope is to start looking at the big picture and begin working together, as a national industry, in light of the challenges, but also the opportunities foreseen for rail freight.”

GFR constantly dedicates human and financial resources for innovation and technology projects, seeking to provide clients with a customized experience aligned to market requirements, through integrated and easy-to-use platforms.

So far, the operator has developed and implemented over 20 digital solutions aimed at simplifying and streamlining operational and commercial activities, including the Electronic Consignment Note, which provides access to commercial and technical data on loading wagons and assistance in drawing up transport contracts (2017) and Railway Orders (2012), which ensures customers’ web access to the process of ordering and insuring empty wagons.

“The TRASA Expert application will be accessible to users starting October 21, 2021 and we hope it will be an important milestone in opening a useful and fruitful dialogue with the infrastructure manager, based on objective calculations and approaches, which aim to improve the timetable and services that the railway transport system provides, in its entirety, to society,” Amedeo Neculcea concluded.

About GRAMPET Group

Established almost 20 years ago, GRAMPET is today the largest private rail freight and logistics operator in Romania and Southeast Europe. Its 16-company structure is strategically designed to span the entire chain of rail transport solutions and products, thus offering clients an integrated experience at the highest level of competence: freight railway transport, building, repairs and upgrading of rolling stock, spare parts production, lease of rolling stock, freight transhipment, logistic services, as well as innovative IT solutions for railway operators.

Its flagship company Grup Feroviar Român (GFR) is one of the main rail freight operators in Romania and Southeast Europe. Currently, over 20% of traffic is international, with GFR offering complex logistic solutions to rail sector customers. GFR is a member of all representative international organizations and has cooperation agreements with both state railway operators (BDZ Cargo, UZ, CFM, PKP Cargo, ZK, RCH, HZ Cargo, ZBIH) and private railway operators from Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Germany.

The Group’s companies Reva Simeria, Electroputere VFU Pascani, Reloc Craiova, and Electroputere VFU Craiova account for an important share of the Romanian rolling stock repairing market.

In parallel, the group carries out an intense activity of research and development of technical solutions meant to offer clients a transparent and real-time experience of services to which they have access. Thus, the GRAMPET Group launched an e-client portal for the first time in Romania, which facilitates the management of relations with client companies, from placing an order to invoicing.

Its subsidiary Roserv Oil, which took over the industrial platform of the RAFO Onești refinery in the summer of 2020, focuses on the national development of logistics terminals both on the container side and warehouses for petroleum products.