Case Study: Xebia achieves real-time rail-yard tracking and faster emergency response with Akka

Typesafe aids in train safety in the Netherlands

Xebia, an enterprise mobile specialist, partnered on a Dutch national program to solve a critical rail-yard problem: shunters were logging car movements on paper, leaving no real-time visibility of rolling stock—including dangerous goods—across 100+ yards. That gap made emergency response slow and hazardous when accidents occurred, exposing first responders to unknown cargo and locations.

Xebia delivered iOS and Android apps plus an Akka/Spray edge-server that synchronizes shunters’ near‑real‑time updates with the central system. Built rapidly (Android in 9 weeks, full production in 18), deployed via Heroku with S3-backed recovery, the solution provides an accurate, up‑to‑the‑minute picture of train movements so emergency teams can quickly identify hazardous cars and reduce risk while operators maintain correct, auditable records.

Xebia

Raymond Roestenburg

Architect