Actian > Case Studies > Increasing Capacity with Versant Object Database and RailEdge® Movement Planner

Increasing Capacity with Versant Object Database and RailEdge® Movement Planner

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Versant Object Database
RailEdge® Movement Planner

Tech Stack

Object-oriented software system
Database Management

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Environmental Impact Reduction

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Industries

Railway & Metro

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Predictive Maintenance

Services

Data Science Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Norfolk Southern Railroad is a major transporter in the eastern United States. It operates 2,500 trains per day over a 21,000-mile system serving every major container port in the region. With the Federal Railroad Administration expecting railroad freight traffic to double by 2020, Norfolk Southern is faced with the challenge of meeting this demand without expanding its existing tracks. The company aims to increase railroad capacity, velocity, and efficiency, increase average network train speed by 10 to 20 percent, and save millions of dollars in capital and expense.

The Challenge

The Federal Railroad Administration is expecting railroad freight traffic to double by 2020. However, the U.S. railroad infrastructure cannot be expanded to keep pace with this demand. Railroads are confronted with meeting this demand in some other way. GE Transportation Systems, the global technology leader and supplier to the railroad industry, is addressing the problem with RailEdge® Movement Planner, an object-oriented software system incorporating the Versant Object Database. GE Transportation’s customer, Norfolk Southern Railroad, operates 2,500 trains per day over a 21,000-mile system serving every major container port in the eastern United States. Norfolk Southern expects to increase railroad capacity, velocity and efficiency with no new tracks, to increase average network train speed 10 to 20 percent, and to save millions of dollars in capital and expense.

The Solution

GE Transportation Systems, the global technology leader and supplier to the railroad industry, provided a solution with RailEdge® Movement Planner, an object-oriented software system incorporating the Versant Object Database. The Versant Object Database provides significantly higher performance with RailEdge’s complex object models than a relational database. Objects with moderate complexity perform three-times faster, while objects with high levels of complexity, many-to-many relationships, perform more than thirty-times faster. RailEdge replicates and modifies objects—a heterogeneous mix of data types images, maps, sensor data, financial information, etc.—continuously coming into the Versant Object Database. Using the same object model for the application and the database, VOD provides significantly higher performance with RailEdge’s complex object models than a relational database.

Operational Impact

RailEdge® Movement Planner creates a complete real-world model of the entire train system as well as a financial business model of the railroad within the Versant Object Database.
RailEdge continuously models and predicts rail system operation for eight hours in advance.
Taking over scheduling and routing from human operators, RailEdge improves fuel efficiency and achieves a two-to-four miles-per-hour increase in average train velocity.
RailEdge can move a ton of freight 486 miles on a gallon of fuel.
Norfolk Southern’s experience has been so compelling that it is expanding RailEdge throughout its entire 22-state and District of Columbia rail network.

Quantitative Benefit

A one-mile-per-hour improvement saves $200 million annually in capital and expense.
Objects with moderate complexity perform three-times faster with Versant Object Database, while objects with high levels of complexity, many-to-many relationships, perform more than thirty-times faster.