Rail in the Age of Instrumented Assets: Turning utilisation, Data and AI into Cost and Carbon Advantage

Join us in this RailTech Master Class where Wolfgang Lehmacher will discuss the economics of the modal shift, how data and AI make wagons more productive, and the strategic question industrial shippers now face about their capacity position in a tightening rail market: build it, anchor it through the right partnership, or stay dependent on someone else's decisions.

The case for rail has always been clear on paper: Lower emissions, lower cost per tonne-kilometre for the right volumes, and far less exposure to road congestion and driver shortages. What has changed is the economics underneath that case. Rising carbon costs, tightening EU freight targets and new data infrastructure are turning rail from an environmental commitment into a financial calculation industrial shippers can no longer treat as optional.

Wolfgang Lehmacher has spent years mapping how technology is rewriting that calculation. His framework, developed through his work at the World Economic Forum, his advisory work with industrial companies, and his writing as one of the most widely-read independent voices in supply chain strategy, tracks how instrumented assets and AI-driven optimisation are turning decarbonisation from a cost into a competitive lever. The core shift is in utilisation: when data and AI turn the wagon from a passive cost into a managed, optimised asset, the companies that move first lock in a structurally lower cost base and greater resilience, before the market tightens around them.

🚀 What You Will Take Away From This Session

This session is built around four key points:

• The shifting economics of modal shift: what has changed in the cost, carbon and resilience equation, and why the business case looks different in 2026 than it did five years ago
• Rail as an instrumented asset: how data and AI turn the wagon from a passive cost into a managed, optimised resource. Once fragmented data becomes decisions teams can trust and act on.
• The first-mover advantage in rail: how early movers are locking in structurally lower costs and better resilience before the market tightens further
• A strategic frame for the decisions ahead: build your own capacity, anchor into a partnership, or depend on someone else's network. Either way, make sure the capacity you pay for is working, not sitting idle.

⏱️ Why This Matters

If you are responsible for rail freight or supply chain strategy in an industrial company, the modal shift debate is probably not new to you. What is shifting is the urgency. Carbon costs are rising, the EU is pushing to grow rail freight, and the data infrastructure to act on the shift is finally available. The question is no longer whether rail makes sense strategically. It is whether your organisation is moving before the cost advantage closes.

Wolfgang Lehmacher, drawing on World Economic Forum research, argues that AI-driven optimisation of operations, utilisation and modal shift could reduce global freight emissions by 10 to 15%, largely by eliminating empty runs and improving asset allocation. For industrial shippers running wagon fleets where a significant share of assets sit idle or run empty, that optimization gap is a direct cost opportunity, not only a carbon one.

This session gives you the strategic framework to understand that opportunity, from one of the most credible independent voices in global supply chain strategy

🤝 Who Should Attend

This session is designed for supply chain and logistics professionals who are:

• Responsible for rail freight strategy or evaluating the modal shift from road to rail as a cost or carbon lever
• Working in industries that move significant volumes by rail: chemicals, petrochemicals, steel, construction, agribusiness, automotive, FMCG
• Tracking how data and AI are changing the economics of freight, particularly for asset-heavy industrial operations

🎙️ Session Format

• Duration: 30 minutes
• 20 minutes: Presentation by Wolfgang Lehmacher
• 10 minutes: Interactive Q&A

Language: English

About RailTech Master Classes by Everysens

RailTech Master Classes bring together rail freight professionals to learn from real-world implementations, share best practices, and explore innovations shaping the future of industrial logistics. Designed for seasoned professionals and aspiring experts alike, each session features practitioners who've tackled complex challenges in rail freight digitalization, optimization, and transformation.

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