Multiple energy and rail industry companies and the Government of Canada have formed a consortium with the TransRail Innovation Groups (TRIG), with the goal of testing and commercializing technology that will make transporting hazardous liquids by rail a safer endeavor.
They are investing in the XLOAD rail tank car and terminal sensor technology, which measures, monitors and tracks hazardous commodities while being loaded, shipped and unloaded. It does so through the use of wireless data communication. It also automates what has, previously, been a lengthy investigatory process of opening and manually measuring the toxic commodities within. It marks the first digital sensor technology to be certified for mounting on moving rail tank cars.
“Two of our primary testing objectives are to determine, consistently and with accuracy, the additional volume of commodities that can be loaded into our customers’ tank cars, and to prove that smart tank cars are the safest and most efficient in the industry.” Rob Tasker, CEO of TRIG, said. “The increased volume that we can safely load into our customer’s cars will reduce the transportation cost of every barrel of commodity transported to their North American customers.”
The Canadian government has already provided $1.85 million to TRIG to aid the technology. Pilot trials have commenced with several rail and energy companies in Alberta.