RailVision was launched in 2020 with the objective of helping the railway industry reduce its fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Fuel is the largest cost to railroad companies after labor. While the railroad industry is open to innovations that will drive efficiency, tools typically used by the sector to address the issue of high fuel costs are limiting, antiquated, and necessitate complicated integrations, according to the company.
RailVision’s EcoRail app was launched in 2021 to mitigate skyrocketing fuel prices by lowering consumption, reducing emissions, improving crew safety, monitoring operation compliance, and reducing wear on equipment for the US$100bn North American rail industry.
EcoRail is a lightweight app used on a crew tablet. As it embraces a user interface like Google Maps, the app is easy for railroad engineers to adopt. In early demonstrations, EcoRail delivered meaningful fuel cost savings of 10-15% and in turn lower GHG emissions.
“The rail industry is the backbone of global supply chains and responsible for moving the majority of the world’s raw and finished materials. It also happens to be the most efficient – and environmentally friendly – transportation industry by nearly four times yet is often overlooked in terms of opportunities for growth and innovation,” said Dev Jain, founder and CEO of RailVision.
“This seed investment enables us to disrupt this status quo by developing technology that can drive growth and introduce innovation to this strong but stable industry, while further reducing its environmental impact. The funding also enables us to significantly expand our reach and deliver a robust solution for the larger Class I market,” Jain added.
Over the past year, EcoRail has been in pilot testing with several companies, including Genessee & Wyoming, Metrolinx, Port of Montreal, and Via Rail. The app is now commercially available for deployment by all passenger and freight short line railroads.
“The idea behind our vision is to not only highlight what’s possible in the railway industry but to also champion the adoption of rail with the goal of reducing heavy congestion and pressure currently placed on public roads, which will significantly lower GHG emissions,” added Jain.
The investment – which was more than two times oversubscribed, according to the firm – was led by Trucks Venture Capital with participation from new investors MUUS Climate Partners, Blackhorn Ventures, Incite.org, and Measured Ventures, and returning investors Active Impact Investments and Neil Murdoch. RailVision will use the funding for technical hiring, to grow its product development team, and to expand its product line and customer base.