Case Study: DB Cargo boosts reliability and cuts lifecycle costs with Nomad Digital's Condition-Based Maintenance

DB Cargo - Customer Case Study

DB Cargo, Europe’s largest rail freight operator, faced mounting commercial pressure to improve asset reliability, availability and reduce life‑cycle costs as part of its “Zukunft Bahn” renewal strategy. To do this it pursued Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) across its international locomotive fleet, but encountered challenges from newly specified railway‑certified hardware (teething issues), bespoke on‑board software needs for country‑specific configurations, and delivery/support complexities during installation. Nomad Digital was engaged to support this CBM rollout.

Nomad Digital oversaw the installation and commissioning of the first nine locomotives and supplied an installation manual that enabled DB Cargo’s own teams to complete the rest during normal depot maintenance windows. During implementation Nomad Digital identified and helped resolve GPS/GSM connectivity problems (including replacing defective native antennas) and delivered minor software updates to optimise data transmission and retrieval, enabling DB Cargo to progress its CBM programme and self‑complete the wider installation.

DB Cargo