This work was done in collaboration with Safe Software partner Locus.
Driving efficiency in freight operations
Responsible for rail operations in New Zealand, KiwiRail plays a vital role in the nation’s freight and supply chain infrastructure. As the custodian of New Zealand’s rail network, it operates 900 freight trains per week and handles 18% of the country’s imports and exports.
Unexpected disruptions—unplanned events affecting train services—can lead to delays or cancellations, making accurate, real-time information critical for customers and highlighting the importance of fast responses during unexpected disruptions.
Before implementing FME, KiwiRail’s GIS team manually updated and published GIS data, a process that took several hours each time. To modernize operations and improve the customer experience, KiwiRail identified the need for an efficient, user-friendly system that would give commercial customers a clear view of future freight schedules and capacity.
Innovating freight scheduling with smart solutions
To meet this challenge, KiwiRail developed the Interactive Rail Freight Distribution Dashboard, powered by FME. Leveraging FME’s data integration and visualization capabilities, the dynamic map displays freight scheduling information both spatially and temporally, providing real-time updates on disruptions across KiwiRail’s network.
To support real-time updates, KiwiRail integrated Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) via the Dataverse API, ensuring timely delivery of freight data. FME’s automation capabilities significantly reduced the need for manual data handling, empowering the Customer Delivery team to manage and scale the system with minimal effort.
“FME takes the operational knowledge from our Customer Delivery team stored in our CRM and transforms it into near real-time map overlays that are clear and accessible for our customers. This helps improve communication with our customer and further demonstrates our commitment to growing by winning customer loyalty.” –Dan Swan, Digital Solutions Specialist, Customer Delivery
A key enhancement was the use of a SQL recursive script to generate selectable dates within the dashboard’s calendar tool. This refinement centralizes and streamlines date-based data, allowing users to easily view any potential freight disruptions for a selected day. The dashboard’s interface makes it easy for both customers and internal teams to access the information they need on demand.
Keeping freight moving forward
With the introduction of the KiwiRail Interactive Rail Freight Disruption Dashboard, customers now have access to a self-service tool that is simple to use and up-to-date. The KiwiRail Customer Delivery team can maintain and scale the system as needed without requiring extensive technical intervention, and the advances in automation have dramatically reduced the manual overhead for the Customer Service and GIS teams. The result is a more responsive, efficient, and customer-centric freight experience for New Zealand’s rail operations.
