SIGNALLING & TELECOMS
The phenomenal digital transformation
A railway fi t for the 21st century is not just an aspiration but a necessity if the UK is to compete and thrive in the global economy, argues Adam Perry of DeltaRail.
T
echnology must be at the heart of driving change in the railways and its services.
It must deliver what consumers really want: improved performance; increased capacity; improved customer services; and a safer, secure environment.
In the UK, Mark Carne, Network Rail’s CEO, wants to transform the UK railway’s capacity and performance through the use of digital technology, delivering a highly reliable, effi cient and safe service. This is a tough challenge in an industry that is slow to adopt established technologies from other industries; an industry that takes too long to deliver and utilise technology; and an industry that insists on very specifi c railway-only versions, e.g. GSM-R (2G to the man on the street). It is often said of the UK railway that it aspires to ‘yesterday’s technology, tomorrow’.
So, what does it mean to be digital? What is it that has driven the phenomenal transformation in sectors that have already embraced digital? Three crucial features are: open standards, the importance of data, and the consumer-led 'pull economy'.
For the railway, this presents a fantastic opportunity to become truly passenger- centric, delivering a service focused on the customer.
Digital technology unleashes the information in data from a wide range of sources, such
as signalling control and on-train management systems, stock and crew information, feeds from condition monitoring and asset systems – even data from the passengers themselves. This enables better decisions on re-planning services when things go wrong. Operators can communicate these decisions, consequences and resulting choices to all stakeholders – most importantly the travelling public.
Mobile technology, travel apps and smart ticketing enable passengers to better plan their journeys. They also enable communication of personal, journey-specifi c information quickly, effi ciently and directly; bringing together railway operations and the passenger in a way that has not been possible before.
Today, the railway is measured against binary KPIs that do not refl ect the needs of the passenger and drive perverse industry behaviour. Passenger satisfaction is undertaken via surveys on pre-planned days, targeting small subsets of passengers. It is regarded as legitimate, even normal, to cancel the surveys in times of service disruption, leading to distorted, infl ated indicators of customer satisfaction levels.
Why isn’t the railway using social media to measure satisfaction in real-time, all of the time? The website www.
commutelondon.com shows how useful information can be gained from social media;
surely this is the way to measure customer satisfaction. Look for our latest app.
PPM, one of these KPIs, drives railway operators to move trains rather than passengers. Why is 10 minutes late still ‘on time’? Why not measure performance in real-time at all the station stops on the journey? When there is disruption, instead of focusing on PPM, why not focus on getting the passengers to their destinations? And keeping them informed of progress and choices?
DeltaRail has embraced digital technology. We have introduced IECC Scalable, our signalling control system, on a world-leading digital architecture and platform. The use of a message broker middleware to exploit communications- over-IP has led to fl exible deployment and an ability to integrate decision support tools in an open and easily manageable environment. Our open architecture allows the operators to choose the best in class and most appropriate decision support tools which will readily integrate with their chosen management system.
Technology is not the barrier.
Indeed it is
the enabler for a high performing, high capacity railway. We should seize this opportunity – our customers are demanding it.
W:
www.deltarail.com FOR MORE INFORMATION
rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 14 | 91
Adam Perry
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