Ex-jobb: AI readiness for rail freight traffic

AI readiness for rail freight traffic

Background

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a key enabler for innovation across industries, supporting for instance improved decision-making and operational efficiency. In the railway sector, AI has the potential to optimize logistics, enhance safety, increase punctuality, and reduce environmental impact. For Green Cargo, Sweden’s leading rail freight company, AI could support more efficient capacity planning, maintenance scheduling, energy optimization, and customer service improvements. However, successful AI adoption depends not only on the availability of data and technology but also on organizational preparedness in terms of infrastructure, processes, and human competence. Assessing AI readiness is therefore a crucial step to ensure that investments in AI deliver tangible value.

Green Cargo is Sweden’s most experienced operator in rail logistics with roots in the origins of Swedish rail traffic. We deliver sustainable logistics solutions and are an important part of Scandinavia’s trade and industry. Over 98 percent of our transport operations are powered by fossil-free electricity. Every weekday, we run 350 freight trains and replace around 9,000 truck transports on the road network. In our network, we serve nearly 200 locations in Scandinavia, and with partners we reach the whole of Europe. We have 1,750 employees, transport approximately 20 million tonnes of goods and have an annual turnover of SEK 4.2 billion (2024).

Problem Description

Although AI opportunities in rail freight are quite clear, many organizations face challenges in evaluating how ready they are to adopt and scale AI solutions. Readiness involves factors such as data quality, IT infrastructure, organizational culture, competence, and governance. Without a structured assessment of AI readiness, Green Cargo risks missed opportunities, inefficient allocation of resources, or failed projects. Another challenge is methodological: Which methods can or should be used to evaluate AI readiness in a way that is systematic and repeatable? The focus is not on developing AI models, but on establishing processes and methods that can ensure the right preconditions for AI work. There is currently limited research on structured, repeatable approaches to AI readiness in railway freight companies, creating a gap in both practice and knowledge.

Task

The project will assess AI readiness in one selected department within Green Cargo by identifying critical factors, analyzing their current state, and proposing improvement areas. Possible tasks include:

1. Review existing AI readiness frameworks and methods, with focus on approaches that ensure repeatability and process-orientation.
2. Adapt or design a methodology suitable for rail freight operations that goes beyond one-off evaluations and can serve as the basis for a readiness process.
3. Collect and analyze information through interviews, surveys, and documentation from the chosen department.
4. Apply the methodology to evaluate the department’s AI readiness and highlight strengths and weaknesses.
5. Provide recommendations for improving AI preparedness and for establishing a process that enables repeated assessments over time.

Goals

• ·Primary Goal: To provide Green Cargo with an evidence-based evaluation of AI readiness in one of its departments, including methods for making readiness assessments systematic and repeatable.
• ·Sub-goals

o Review and compare methods for assessing AI readiness.

o Adapt or propose a framework tailored to the rail freight sector.

o Demonstrate the application of the method within the selected department.

o Deliver recommendations for both short-term improvements and long-term process establishment.

o Contribute to academic and practical understanding of how AI readiness can be ensured in a repeatable, process-oriented way.

• Type of degree project (can be both) ☒ Master (20 weeks)
• Language for the thesis
• ☒ Swedish and/or ☒English
• Is Swedish a language requirement? ☒ No, but Swedish is a requirement for future employment
• Possibility to work from our office ☒ Yes ☐ No

Contact Person

Tim Janke

Role: Enterprise architect

Email: tim.janke@greencargo.com