Rail freight operators are under intense pressure. Economic headwinds, rising costs, and growing competition from road transport are forcing the sector to become more efficient. Yet one of the biggest structural challenges remains unresolved: resource planning.
According to Frederic Pscheid, Head of Product at railcube, the problem can be boiled down to two core issues: optimisation and synchronisation. “Railway undertakings want to plan their resources with one click,” Pscheid says. “Ideally, the system does the work for them and keeps everything synchronised with the people outside.”
The complexity behind “one-click planning”
Resource planning in rail freight goes far beyond assigning a locomotive and a driver to a train. Ground staff, train drivers, wagon inspectors, and planners all need to know where they need to be, when they need to be there, and what comes next. That includes follow-up shifts, travel arrangements, hotel bookings, and rest times, all of which may change at short notice.
In real-time operations, updates need to be immediate. In medium- and long-term planning, operators can tolerate slight delays, five or ten minutes, but accuracy remains critical. “People want the information when it matters,” Pscheid explains, “and they want to know immediately if something changes.”
Optimisation adds another layer of complexity. Operators need to ensure the right people with the right qualifications are available, used efficiently, and ideally planned in round trips, much like locomotives. “In the best case, locomotives move continuously from A to B to C to D and back to A. That doesn’t happen in reality, but planning should get as close as possible”.
From manpower to software, and the limits of legacy tools
Historically, large rail freight operators compensated for complexity with sheer manpower. “At DB Cargo, there were hundreds of people doing this job,” Pscheid recalls. “Nobody can afford that anymore”. As a result, IT systems have taken over tasks once handled manually. But many operators still rely on tools that were never designed for modern rail operations.
Excel remains the biggest competitor, particularly among small and medium-sized companies. In some control rooms, planning sheets are still printed and updated by hand on a wall. “That’s still the reality out there,” Pscheid says. “The challenge is providing software that is lightweight and fast, but still covers all operational needs.”
Building railcube around industry reality
Railcube’s approach is rooted in co-development with customers. “We don’t sit in a room and decide what the industry needs,” Pscheid explains. “We ask our clients.” By consolidating requirements across multiple railway undertakings, railcube aims to cover around 95% of use cases, aligning the platform closely with industry standards. This also extends to interoperability and regulatory interfaces, such as TAF TSI.
“We try to be ready before infrastructure managers are,” Pscheid says. “When they go live, the format is already there. Press a button and the client can use it.” Predicting implementation timelines, however, remains difficult. While rollout schedules are known at a high level, real-world deployment often lags by years. Path request messages under TAF TSI, for example, were expected to be live across Europe years ago, yet remain unevenly implemented.
Digitalisation: technology is not the main barrier
Despite technical progress, Pscheid sees process inertia as the biggest obstacle to digitalisation. Many workflows were designed without IT in mind and later adapted, rather than rethought. “There’s a reluctance to change processes,” he says. “You need top-down commitment, otherwise nothing moves.”
Paper remains another major hurdle. From printed LA documents in Germany to complementary certificates in multiple countries, physical documentation is still deeply embedded. Sending a PDF by email is often considered “digitalisation,” even though it simply shifts the printing elsewhere.
True digitalisation, Pscheid argues, means delivering structured data directly to mobile devices, where it is needed, and enabling offline use in areas with poor connectivity. Railcube already supports offline workflows, synchronising data once coverage is restored, but coverage gaps in large countries like Germany and France continue to shape development priorities.
Consolidation may accelerate change
Market consolidation, often seen as a risk to innovation, may actually speed up digital transformation. While state-owned incumbents tend to move slowly, newer, privately driven groups operate with greater urgency. “As older management structures phase out and younger leadership comes in, and as companies are acquired by larger groups, change is being forced,” Pscheid says.
“In the US, you see this very clearly,” he added. Large operators can impose new systems across dozens or hundreds of subsidiaries at once. While implementation remains complex, the scale of impact is far greater than in Europe’s fragmented rollout model.
What’s next for railcube
Railcube’s latest release, version 2025.1, introduced features such as automated locomotive parking, advanced employee rostering with segmented rest planning, enhanced workflows for complementary certificates, and a fully customisable payroll module. Looking ahead, major milestones include upcoming TAF TSI path request implementations in Germany and France, expanded mobile workflows such as full wagon damage reporting, and new management tools designed for the North American market.
Artificial intelligence is also on the roadmap, but with a clear focus. “It’s not about buzzwords,” Pscheid says. “AI has to actually help users, guide them, and take work off their hands.” In a sector where speed, efficiency, and reliability are no longer optional, the ability to plan and synchronise resources effectively may prove decisive. And for rail freight, the clock is ticking.
