News Releases

Technology & Innovation

OptRail’s Advanced Movement Planner successfully in operation on one of the largest and most complex rail networks world-wide

Omaha, Neb., November 18, 2021

Optrail, a digital tech company focused on rail innovation, and Union Pacific Railroad today announced implementation of Advanced Movement Planner (AMP) as part of the railroad’s new CADX system. CADX is the primary technology used by Union Pacific’s dispatchers to manage train movement safely and efficiently across its 23-state network. AMP provides real-time information on the hundreds of trains moving across the system, identifying the plans for those trains to traverse the network including how they should meet or pass one another should that be necessary.

Due to OptRail’s unique experience delivering movement planners in Europe and North America, AMP supports a broad set of operating rules. The technology is based on a mathematical approach, which, unlike rule-based algorithms, allows flexibility when modelling the rail operator’s goals and any potential new requirements.

Union Pacific is implementing AMP across its 32,000-mile system and anticipates completion in late 2021, creating the largest railway network in the world to be automated with an optimization-based movement planner.

Rahul Jalali, Union Pacific Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, said, “AMP is a great example of advanced technology driving safety, efficiency, and productivity for Union Pacific. The partnership between OptRail and Union Pacific to build and deploy AMP is a great success story for both companies.”

Paolo Perticaroli, OptRail CEO said, “We were proud when Union Pacific selected us as the supplier for this ambitious undertaking. After much work, it is with great satisfaction that we see the system successfully go live and make history.”

Prof. Carlo Mannino, OptRail scientific advisor and co-founder then stated that “AMP is not only a sophisticated, state-of-the-art software, it is also the fruit of over a decade of research on the mathematics that underlie the train routing and scheduling problem. While the body of literature in this field is vast, it is the first implementation on this scale of a train dispatching tool based on such cutting-edge approaches.”

Delivering this groundbreaking technology solution delivers on OptRail’s mission to develop and perfect products that tackle the planning problems faced by the railway industry.

ABOUT OPTRAIL

Founded in 2014 OptRail is a highly specialized digital rail-tech company with long-standing experience in technology transfer from scientific research to the industry. OptRail's core competency is the application of quantitative decisions sciences such as Operations Research and Machine Learning to real-world problems, with a particular focus on transport and logistics. Its main application area has been the development of intelligent decision-support systems in the field of rail transport (urban and main line). www.optrail.com

For information: Leonardo Lamorgese at leonardo.lamorgese@optrail.com
Mike Pracht at mike.pracht@optrail.com or 412-417-5462

 

ABOUT UNION PACIFIC

Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) delivers the goods families and businesses use every day with safe, reliable and efficient service. Operating in 23 western states, the company connects its customers and communities to the global economy. Trains are the most environmentally responsible way to move freight, helping Union Pacific protect future generations. More information about Union Pacific is available at www.up.com.

For information: Kristen South at kmsouth@up.com or 402-544-3435.

 

The statements and information contained in the news releases provided by Union Pacific speak only as of the date issued. Such information by its nature may become outdated, and investors should not assume that the statements and information contained in Union Pacific's news releases remain current after the date issued. Union Pacific makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty, to update any of this information.