Innovation and Britain’s railway are often seen as a misnomer – for the untrained eye, little has changed in the UK. Our infrastructure is Victorian and new lines like the long awaited HS2 project is subject to the inevitable delays and rising costs that seem to be a feature of any major infrastructure project. Yet innovation is at the core of the industry’s values and it is not always something passengers would recognise.
Decarbonisation is a key challenge for every sector, and in everything from ‘green sleepers’ to battery powered or hydrogen trains, the rail industry is playing its part. The challenges within the sector to deliver maintenance and renewals more sustainably, to consider energy use and waste, as well as look at how we care for the environment lineside have resulted in some significant developments – from energy gardens on station roofs to old diesel trains converted to battery power. Yet for many passengers, an active decision to get the train already feels like an environmentally conscious choice, and some of the innovations have little bearing on their day-to-day experience.
Similarly, those innovations which enhance the reliability and efficiency will enhance the passenger experience. However, as most passengers simply expect their trains to run, the how becomes irrelevant.
What is clear is that the innovations which directly impact upon the customer experience are the ones most valued by passengers. The ability to tap in and out and have the lowest fare calculated, the onboard display screens, the mobile apps to book tickets or order coffee to your seat all make a tangible difference yet none are a true innovation; more the railway adopting technology already in widespread use.
As the industry looks to innovate further, we need to ensure we can be ahead rather than behind the curve. Core to that is thinking and acting differently as we deliver the step change we need across the network to enable more freight, to attract more passengers and create a robust and reliable system.
We need to ensure innovation builds on and protect the industry’s safety record, as well as drive reliability, reduce cost and carbon, and future proof the industry for years to come. A new era of UK rail is underway, a new HQ in Derby has been announced, and everyone agrees we can do better – for the country, for the passenger and for the environment.
If we started with the many innovations that already exist for our industry – whether big technology changes such as hydrogen & battery trains or digital signalling or applying new technology and integrating it into our systems – we could make significant progress almost immediately. Yet getting these innovations adopted and deployed across the network can be more challenging than creating the solution itself. If we continue to do what we’ve always done, the opportunity we have to adopt the innovations that already exist to transform our railways into the safe, sustainable, reliable and economical backbone of the UK for passengers and freight customers will be lost for another generation. And that’s before we even turn our attention and ambition to what may be possible for tomorrow.
So as we look to deliver now for the future – let’s look to keep the principles that will help make that change a reality. For us here at evo-rail they are simple:
- Take a sustainable approach to everything we do – and then challenge ourselves to do better.
- Plan for the next 20 years not the next 3-5 years – design out unnecessary maintenance and risk, build in capacity, longevity and flexibility
- Create solutions which enhance the passenger experience
- Create opportunity to streamline processes and systems
- Use the private sector to drive creativity, innovation and change
- Think about the commercial and the community impact – how can we improve both
If we adopt the above, not only can we already deliver the green, customer focused railway we all need and want so much quicker but the future for the industry will be brighter than it’s past.