Digital Railway – opportunities to enable innovation and sustainability

The UK railway is about to embrace a generational shift in the way it is operated, managed and maintained.

The Digital Railway initiative seeks to add additional capacity to the UK’s national rail infrastructure, whilst at the same time creating a programme of transformation to support the way that travellers will use transport networks of the future.

Popular interest in using rail as a means of transport is at its highest since the 1920s.  According to Network Rail figures, passenger kilometres travelled have increased 50% since 2004, and are forecast to increase again by a further 50% by the mid-2030s.

"The timing is right for the industry to adopt new ways of thinking to overcome these challenges and to deliver a more resilient transport network."

Rail freight is forecast to undergo similar levels of growth. The clear and imminent challenge to the rail industry therefore is to ensure both the short and long-term sustainability of the network. Building 50% additional line capacity is not an option and so it will require the industry to “get more from less” to achieve growth forecasts without undue impact on capital and other resources, as well as local communities and the environment.

The rail network will harness digital technology for all elements of the railway systems, from signalling to tickets to asset management. This in turn will create numerous opportunities to generate additional capacity, manage the railway land and other resources more efficiently and create a new customer experience with seamless end-to-end journeys.   

None of this will come from “business as usual”.

Mark Carne and the Network Rail board have issued a challenge to the UK rail industry which will require very different approaches to the historical problems of capacity, legacy and customer satisfaction. The timing is right for the industry to adopt new ways of thinking to overcome these challenges and to deliver a more resilient transport network which increases capacity, reduces whole-life costs and carbon and places rail at the heart of the UK transport network.

The digital agenda enables new ways of thinking and almost endless sustainability opportunities and spin off innovations.

Temple has summarised seven of them in a new thought piece find here.

Terry O’Neill is account director at Temple Group