Dark territory

Imagine operating hundreds of kilometers of railway with no signals, no wasted power and almost no communication.

This is what the industry calls dark territory and it creates a fundamental question.

How do you know where your train is and whether the rail ahead is still intact? We will explore how Acena is exactly addressing this challenge, why more than 1350 units are already in operation and how smarter sensors and better data could fundamentally change the way we operate remote railways.

Let's begin and welcome Konstantin.

And that's where the conversation started.

And I must tell you, it's led to some fascinating results.

For listeners outside North America, what exactly is dark territory and how significant a part of a railway network can it actually be?

Dark territory in North America and internationally is defined as the part of the railway asset that has no signalized systems, and also does not have wayside electrical or communication services, and that's usually fiber optic cables.