Image courtesy:
Pacific National Railways

Mobile rail management & safety enhancement solution:
A case study in helping make Queensland's rural goods and passenger train services safer and more efficient by delivering a reliable mobile in-train management system platform.

When rail operators in the farthest reaches of northern  Australia were faced with improving safety and  network efficiency in extremes of vibration caused by the diesel loco engines,  compounded by excessive heat inside the cabins (with  temperatures exceeding 45C- 50C in some cases) they turned to Opentec because of our unequalled record of reliability and durability.

As such, the computers that run critical safety and scheduling applications have to be exceptionally durable, in order to gaurantee safe and on-time operation. 

Since 1999, Opentec has been providing rugged computing solutions to some of the nation's most remote rail operators. And they continue to rely on Opentec, simply because no other vendor has ever been able to deliver products customised to meet their exactling needs, or that have survived as long or performed as reliably as ours.

Our approach was a COTS grade tablet, mated with a customised DockLite port expander, that supplied the custom connectivity required for this specialised role, but doing it on a platform that had been proven in other field roles where high levels of dust and vibration were encountered.

Few, if any, vendors had any experience deploying COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) platforms into deisel electric locomotives, with much of the equipment being deployed into such roles being custom built, bulky, expensive and not necessarily the most current technology. The ideal solution was a COTS product  that had proven itself in a range of similar or more rugged roles, but matched with a customised mounting system.

The solution has proven so successful and reliable, it's remained in active service for several years, without any design changes or enhancements.

Customised product:

    Opentec RPT 8-I Industrial Rugged tablet PC