Karl Liriano, CTO, explores key themes from the Rail Innovation Exhibition in London.
I had the opportunity recently to join a panel at the Rail Innovation Exhibition hosted by Innovate UK in London. After the opening by Wendy Morton MP, Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom, a range of opinions were shared by Kelvin Davies at Innovate UK and Milda Manomaityte from Railway Industry Association, Matthew Lee (FCIRO, MILT) from Lumo, Michael Davies from Transport for Wales, Dan Piner from South Western Railway, David Franklin from Avanti West Coast and Tom Bell from Great Western Railway (GWR) .
Based on the discussions, the appetite for innovation within the rail industry is strong and many enterprises are exploring how new technologies can improve the rail ecosystem. Everything from drones to AI, power systems, remote monitoring, advanced real-time diagnostics, material engineering, security, and of course apps to solve various problems. The need to attract and retain a growing number of passengers to the railways was clear and many speakers talked about enhancing the passenger experience and having a real focus on delivering an enhanced leisure offering to drive that growth.
An encouraging number spoke about being carbon neutral and I particularly liked the TOC who said they were on a mission to save the planet, very much an ethos we have at evo-rail. The need for a modal shift to rail alongside solutions being delivered sustainably is huge and this can only be achieved with innovation.
Being a regular user of the railways, I found the sentiment and focus on the passenger encouraging. Likewise, when I think of the work we are doing at evo-rail, we clearly have a solution that addresses the challenges of the industry. We have a solution we know will attract and retain customers by improving their experience and enable even more innovation where high-speed data connectivity is currently a limitation – all done with a radio network that is powered by renewables.
An interesting fact mentioned, was that freight usage didn’t experience a dip during the Covid-19 crisis and continues to grow. We have seen much innovation in freight in the last few years, not just in rail, but also at ports where we have seen private networks using a range of different spectrum assets and of course IoT all playing a part to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
There was a real buzz around the exhibition stands with many conversations about how various concepts could help and enhance the railways and the passenger experience. I left excited that the railways have got a great opportunity to transform, from being seen as a set of carriages running up and down a track to being truly connected places of work, leisure and relaxation. A place where more ideas and innovations can be imagined and developed, where carbon neutral is not just an ideal but a reality.