Rumo, the largest railway operator in Brazil, and Embratel announce the expansion of Claro's 4G signal coverage throughout Serra de Santos (SP) to support the operation of locomotives in the region. The project, phased in two stages, carried out the installation of 41 transmission antennas, which are already 100% operational, in the 41 kilometers between the Evangelista and Paratinga stations. A great advance in the circulation of trains in the region is already taking place, leading to greater autonomy and reduction in communication time between train drivers and Rumo's operational control center (OCC), ensuring speed and agility in the sharing of information.
Rumo, which manages the country's main railway corridor, between Rondonópolis (MT) and the Port of Santos (SP), is using the 4G transmission service using Claro chips, with a project developed by Embratel. The objective is to optimize the communication between trains and the CCO, reducing the transit time of the section and increasing the logistical efficiency of the operation.
“Until then, our trains had a satellite communication system on this stretch of mountain range”, says Marco Andriola, Director of Railway Technology at Rumo. “Due to the local topography, the satellite signal does not offer good coverage in the mountains, an area of great complexity due to the density of trains, impacting circulation. Now, we have a reduction of about 97% in the time of sending information between trains and CCO, which caused our delay to drop, in some cases, from 7 minutes to a few seconds. In addition, the driver has an important gain in terms of safety, since he can activate, with greater speed, the teams in the 41 kilometers of mountain range”.
The robust structure designed by Embratel allows for more agility in tracking trains in real time. “On the mountain stretch, there is a sloped area with dense forest, where the only form of connectivity is 4G. The project was designed together and according to Rumo's needs so that we could deliver a quality service that met their demands. Thus, we are offering a secure and stable connection to enable and encourage the digital transformation in Rumo's operations”, says Gustavo Silbert, Executive Director of Embratel. In addition to the 4G connection, Embratel already provides several services on Rumo railways and locomotives throughout Brazil, such as Data Center, Cloud, Wi-Fi, P2P radio connection, equipment management and monitoring.
So that the communication of the railway operation could be optimized, Rumo also carried out the internal redesign of the locomotives. Thus, the railway vehicles were able to receive equipment capable of capturing the 4G signal in an integrated way with the satellite communication used in the stretches outside the mountain range. “In addition to Embratel, an important partner in this project, we had the contribution of Nokia, responsible for developing the mission-critical network solution for our trains”, says Marco Andriola.
Through Nokia's solution, Embratel's intelligence, configured in the Cloud and hosted in the company's Lapa Data Center, one of the most modern in the country, allows the definition of which type of connection is most suitable during each stretch of the route. This allows for an automatic change in connectivity when the locomotive enters Serra de Santos, starting to use the 4G signal. When the locomotive leaves the area, a new connectivity pattern can be changed, if necessary, automatically.
“Mission-critical networks play a key role in digitizing the business market. It is based on our worldwide experience with more than 2,200 customers with networks of this type that we bring cost-effective, robust and secure connectivity to Rumo. We are confident in the success of this new phase of expansion and ready to support the growth of our client's business”, commented Marcelo Entreconti, Director of Nokia Enterprise for Latin America.
The wide connectivity network already invested in projects with Rumo made it possible to install cameras in train cabins for constant monitoring, which, in a next phase, will be enabled with Artificial Intelligence and Analytics. Using intelligent reading, technologies must generate a lot of information to avoid emergency situations and to identify possible accidents, making it possible to analyze, for example, signs of driver fatigue and other scenarios that are different from the usual. Based on the fast and secure network provided by Embratel, the use of cameras associated with Artificial Intelligence and Analytics will allow uninterrupted image analysis. Embratel will carry out all the integration of technologies with a robust infrastructure to take Rumo to the next level of digitalization.
The entire implementation process of this new phase of the project, with 4G in the Santos range, began in May 2022 and included a series of studies focused on optimizing communication in the stretch in question. As it is a public network, the population and local companies are also being benefited and now have more quality and ease of connection to the internet. The objective is for the initiative to now be expanded to other stretches of the mountain range, as well as to other Rumo operations.