Digital Vehicle Logbook Across a Four Country Locomotive Fleet

From April 2025, the vehicle logbook that travels with every locomotive runs on MainTrack, in the cab and in the office.

Project overview

Operator

SBB Cargo International

Network

Transalpine north south corridor

Objective

Vehicle condition visible while the train is running, accurate handover between crews across four national frameworks

Solution

Logbook in MainTrack, fleet maintenance module of the SoftRail suite

Languages

German, Italian, English, Dutch and French

About SBB Cargo International

From road to rail. SBB Cargo International has run on that single idea since SBB Cargo and Hupac founded it in Olten in 2010, with the ambition of making the crossing of the Alps a rail decision rather than a motorway one. Every week it runs block and intermodal trains from terminal to terminal on the Rhine Alpine corridor, shifting thousands of net tonnes from road to rail.

What distinguishes the operation is how much of it stays in house. Cross border production is managed from a single dispatching centre in Olten, and the company works as one point of contact for operators and freight forwarders.  The same logic applies to traction and to people.

An operation built on that level of continuity depends on two things: the condition of its rolling stock, and the accuracy of what one shift hands over to the next.

Which is why, from April 2025, the vehicle logbook that travels with every locomotive runs on MainTrack, in the cab and in the office.

  • 1
    What is the digital logbook?
    The logbook that used to travel with the locomotive on paper now travels with it on the device. A QR code inside the cab opens the vehicle page, and the crew works through structured forms specified with fleet management, dispatching and Safety.
  • 2
    Does it work offline?
    Fault reports are saved as drafts on the device and submitted automatically once the connection returns. Reporting therefore never depends on coverage, and nothing gets lost.

Results: simplified fleet management

With the digital logbook, the crew fills in structured forms that guide the entry, and the same record reaches the next driver and fleet management at once. The data is complete and correctly classified, because the form asks for what fleet management needs. And a fault noted in German at Basel is read in their own language by the driver taking over at Chiasso.

The full locomotive fleet now operates on the digital logbook, and vehicle condition is visible in Olten as it is recorded, without a separate call or email to report it.

“In our centralised base in Olten we now get a quick and clear information from drivers all over Europe. In case of a problem, we can react and find solution best possible way. To enhance safety, we always keep an eye on the remaining kilometres until the next deadlines.”

This feature counts more than 1000 active users and 192 vehicles in use.

Screenshot of a locomotive with the country labels (all colour options).

The BR 193 A40 Fleet, ready with the digital Boardbook from the beginning, has driven around 200’000 km per month.

Average distance driven of the BR 193 A40 Fleet.

What we will build together next

The next step is to provide a Dashboard, right after logging in to MainTrack from a normal computer (not mobile). To show the actual situation of the fleet from SBB Cargo International. Counted vehicles in groups as “available”, “restricted”, “in workshop” and more. That helps to get a quick overview of the fleet status and reduces manual activity for fleet managers.

Our thanks to the fleet management, dispatching and Safety teams for a genuinely shared piece of work: their expertise shaped the system, and ours put it in the cab. We look forward to what we will build next together.

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