HPA to Introduce New Port Railway IT System

 

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) will implement the new Port Railway IT system, transPORT rail, in the night of 27 to 28 September 2014. To keep disruption on the tracks to a minimum, the switchover will take place overnight.

The new system is another milestone in the HPA’s smartPORT strategy. Once in operation, the Port of Hamburg will have in place the most modern, produc-tion-optimising rail logistics information system in the world. transPORT rail coordinates train trips and track occupation, supports train loading processes in the Port of Hamburg and ensures the transparent exchange of data between all parties involved.

In future, the approximately 115 railway undertakings (RU) operating in the Port of Hamburg will be able to rely on automated communication via a data interface. In addition, transPORT rail can also be used via an online portal.

“The share of cargo moved by rail in the Port of Hamburg will continue to grow in the coming years. transPORT rail is a flagship project for the railway as a mode of transport. With it, we are paving the way for more efficient port rail-way operations, thus securing the long-term future of the port,” says Harald Kreft, Head of the Port Railway at the HPA. “We are delighted that we, togeth-er with the IT teams of DAKOSY and Lufthansa Systems, helped the HPA to implement an efficient and transparent port railway information system,” says Karsten Schumacher, Project Coordinator at Lufthansa Systems. 

All in all, about 50 developers and programmers were involved in the launch of the new system. transPORT rail is a significant step towards advancing the HPA’s smartPORT IT strategy. The system is designed such that individual programme components can easily be exchanged or adapted to future devel-opments.

Hamburg is Europe‘s biggest port-rail hub. About 200 freight trains or 5,000 wagons pass through the Port of Hamburg daily on average. In July this year 5,286 trains or 138,449 wagons travelled the tracks of the Port Railway. This is an increase of roughly 10% over the same month last year and one of the best results of the past ten years. In the first six months of 2014 rail freight volumes increased by 5.3% to 1.09 million standard containers (TEU) compared with the same period last year.