Every few years, railroads take a clean-slate look at their operating plans and seek opportunities for major improvements. We partnered with CSX to optimize its operating plan and to reduce the company’s annual operating costs.

When mining companies aim to increase their annual production, their railroads can often create a bottleneck in the supply chain between mines and ports. By using simulation to identify improvement opportunities in the rail network, companies can make variations to help sustain such growth in capacity.

Since train schedules and fleet sizes change frequently, railroads require a tool that regularly optimizes their locomotive operating plans. We developed a locomotive optimization software solution that created and maintained such a plan.

Norfolk Southern, one of the largest freight railroads in the United States, was looking for a better software solution to generate an optimal blocking plan. After licensing our blocking optimizer, the railroad integrated this solution within its own planning system, the Operating Plan Developer (OPD). This system is now an integral part of Norfolk Southern’s operating plan development process.

Optym optimize BNSF Railway's train scheduling, saving millions in operating costs and improving network planning and efficiency.

Optym redesigned CSX’s new intermodal yard layout, boosting capacity by over 15% and creating tens of millions in added value.

Optym helped CSX uncover hump yard bottlenecks, cutting costs per car by up to 6% and saving millions in avoided capital investments.

Optym built a simulation for CSX that optimized fleet size, shop capacity, and locomotive productivity.