The systems of carriage monitoring in Europe have been in development ever since the widespread implementation of computer technology; however till recently they were designed to serve only the particular activities of a specific railway. Of late, railway companies have been striving to foster effective cooperation in the area of a broader and faster exchange of data, which puts fundamental prerequisites for monitoring a carriage from a single location, although such a carriage moves on the railway networks of various countries. However, there are still large backlogs forbidding a carriage owner or a consignment owner to obtain the required information in a sufficiently speedy manner. All issues relating to this area can, in principle, be divided into two basic groups.

The first group is related to the existence of specific large railway companies, which still do not have any system for monitoring carriages and trains. The second group of issues results from the fact that the individual systems of some railways are not compatible for international cooperation. In the backdrop of this problem, we can thus speak of a separate sub-group that is formed of issues linked with monitoring carriages and consignments on the railway network of countries with a track gauge of 1,520 mm.

The stipulated issues are solved for example by systems, which focus on monitoring carriages and containers in the CIS countries and the Baltic States, and which are based on cooperation with the computer centres of certain railways operating in the said territory. Such systems, on the basis of automatically generated query, enable obtaining either a single response on the location of the carriage or a container, or start sending regular information during the entire transport or a selected time segment. Users will find this system very easy to operate when entering the monitoring request as it only requires some basic information. All responses are then displayed on a railway map and in a history table.

Another option are solutions based on using the satellite navigation systems by the virtue of electronic monitoring modules, which are fixed to a railway carriage and which send its location at predefined intervals. The stipulated solution overcomes territorial barriers and enables monitoring a carriage throughout Europe.

JERID offers its customers a unified system, called SIMON, which is basically a utility apparatus incorporating both of the previously mentioned systems of monitoring. This intelligent monitoring system enables the user to work with both information gained from systems of various railway administrations, as well as with information gained through the monitoring modules. The system's operation and administration is very simple and carried out via an internet browser, while each customer receives a certificate for verification and safe log-in to the system.

The entire system can be utilised for three functions: Specification and administration of the monitored objects, display of current location of an object and search in the travel history. Locations are represented in a detailed railway map with tabulated information on the name and number of a nearest railway station, together with the date and time of such information on location. According to the type of monitoring, individual locations are provided with additional information, whether at the time of sending a message the carriage is in motion or stationary, and what is the monitoring module's battery voltage. If monitoring is carried out within the territory of CIS and Baltic States, information on the number and index of train, mass and type of the loaded goods, number and name of the dispatching station and the station of destination is also available.