MUNICH, Germany — As of now, KONUX is working together with Deutsche Bahn (DB) on the digitization of its switches. The Munich-based AI start-up won the underlying DB tender for the condition monitoring of switches as critical elements of the rail infrastructure. Both companies have concluded a long-term framework agreement. Initially, 1,300 switches will be digitized so that passengers can travel more reliably by train on heavily congested lines. DB is investing 15 million euros in this stage of the project. KONUX’s cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution delivers predictive maintenance capabilities to DB’s DIANA asset management and diagnosis platform, which already monitors the motors on 28,000 switches. See DB’s press release
Ronald Pofalla, Member of the Management Board for Infrastructure at DB, said, "We are picking up the pace with our Digital Rail Germany strategy for increasing the rail network’s capacity. Smart technology makes switches more intelligent and rail transportation noticeably more reliable. It’s a real benefit for our customers and the entire sector. This new project sees us working with our partners from the industrial sector to grow transportation volumes for the climate-friendly rail system."
Andreas Kunze, KONUX co-founder and CEO, said: "The fact that Deutsche Bahn, as a technology pioneer in Europe, is working on its first ever cloud-based SaaS infrastructure project together with us, a start-up partner, makes us proud. For us, this is the biggest milestone yet in fulfilling our vision to transform railway operations for a sustainable future. We want to play our part in making railway systems worldwide more reliable so that more people and goods can be transported by this sustainable means of mobility.”
The KONUX Predictive Maintenance System for Rail Switches is a SaaS solution that uses IIoT devices and artificial intelligence to improve network capacity, reliability, and cost-efficiency. It continuously and autonomously monitors the health of key switch components, such as the trackbed and frog. With the KONUX system, asset managers get a forecast on how the condition of the switches will develop over time allowing them to prevent failures and optimize their maintenance planning.
Learn more about our Predictive Maintenance System for Rail Switches
In terms of quality and security, the algorithms and the IIoT device of KONUX are fully certified. The latter meets the highest requirements, including the DB’s ice shooting test, in which the device remained fully fixed even after it was hit three times by a four-kilogram block of ice at a speed of 290 km/h.
Video courtesy of DLR Institute of Structures and Design, Stuttgart– Besides KONUX, Breuer Nachrichtentechnik GmbH is DB’s second contractor for this project.
KONUX is a leading German AI start-up, transforming railway operations for a sustainable future. The company combines Machine Learning and IIoT to deliver Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for operation, monitoring, and maintenance process automation. KONUX increases capacity, reliability, and cost-efficiency to make railway the mobility choice of tomorrow. Since its foundation in 2014, KONUX has raised more than $50 million from world-leading investors, expanded to multiple countries in Europe and Asia, and was selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of the world’s 30 most innovative start-ups and scale-ups worldwide. For more information please go to www.konux.com
Dr. Hans Juergen Croissant
Company Spokesperson
Tel.: +49 163 7013035
Email: [email protected]