THE WIDER LANDSCAPE

UK Government positioning and initiatives

The UK Government is aware of the current and potential benefits to the economy of maximising the continued transformation to an increasingly driven digital world. At a high level, it has published strategy papers to reflect these ambitions. Additionally, to support the Government’s ambitions in the field of data and digital there have been several funded and/ or supported initiatives, some of which with direct relevance to the railway.

National Data Strategy, published in September 2020

The National Data Strategy28 talks about harnessing the power of data to boost productivity, create new businesses and jobs, improve public services and position the UK as the forerunner of the next wave of innovation. It sets out 5 key missions: Unlocking the value of data across the economy.

• Securing a pro-growth and trusted data regime.

• Transforming Government’s use of data to drive efficiency and improve public services.

Ensuring the security and resilience of the infrastructure on which data relies.

Championing the international flow of data.

National Cyber Strategy, published December 2021

National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, published in September 2021

The National AI Strategy29 proposes three key pillars as the basis for a 10-year plan to make the UK a global AI superpower.

• Investing in the needs of the ecosystem to see more people working with AI, more access to data and compute resources to train and deliver AI systems, and access to finance and customers to grow sectors.

• Supporting the diffusion of AI across the whole economy to ensure all regions, nations, businesses, and sectors can benefit from AI.

• Developing a pro-innovation regulatory and governance framework that protects the public.

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)

The National Cyber Strategy30 is the Government’s plan to ensure that the UK remains capable and resilient in the digital sphere, and that it continues to invest, innovate, and adapt to protect and promote our interests in cyberspace.

The NCSC31 is a governmental organisation that provides advice and support for Government departments, strategic infrastructure, and industry in how to avoid computer security threats from malicious actors.

National Digital Twin Programme

This programme is a partnership between the (former) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the University of Cambridge launched in July 2018 and running until September 2022. It was created following the output of the 2017 National Infrastructure Commission report, ‘Data for the Public Good’32 . It had the following objectives:

Enable a National Digital Twin – an ecosystem of connected digital twins to foster better outcomes from our built environment;

• Deliver an Information Management Framework – to ensure secure resilient data sharing and effective information management 33;

Align a Digital Framework Task Group – to provide coordination and alignment among key players.

Whilst this programme is now closed, it has published documents that provide a foundation for the continuation of the Digital twins.

National Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Framework consultation

(from March to May 2022)

Cyber-physical systems bring together the digital and physical worlds, where data from the physical world feeds insight and decision making in the digital world, which can then be implemented either by a person, machine or collaboration of both.

Digital Regulation: Driving growth and unlocking innovation, published July 2021

The Plan for Digital Regulation35 sets out the Government’s overall approach for governing digital technologies in order to drive growth and innovation. It sets out an ambition to use digital technical standards to provide an agile and pro-innovation way to regulate AI technologies and build consistency in technical approaches.

The Digital World 2050 Report, published 2023

This report, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and produced by ‘Connected Everything’ looks at the future of manufacturing34 . It considers several points addressed in this paper, and also looks at manufacturing resilience and the path to Net Zero in the manufacturing sector through the transition to Industry 5.0. Many of the pressing issues in rail – and most specifically those related to skills and organisational change – are reflected in the report. The report makes 5 recommendations which strongly reflect RIA’s asks for rail.

Other Industries

The railway is not unique in the challenges and opportunities that data and digitalisation can bring. Lessons can be learned from thinking about how other fields have managed and reacted to similar changes.

The aviation industry has had a head start on digitally generated data usage for maintenance and performance. Passenger aircraft have been digitally instrumented for much longer due to functional and safety reasons; partially as the costs of component failure and unplanned maintenance are very high. A typical Boeing 737 will generate 240 terabytes of data per trip36 . On average, for each hour a commercial aeroplane is out of service, the operator loses $10k, so it is vital that all data generated is used to effectively schedule maintenance and repair tasks. Though considered more advanced than rail by some, the aero industry is still challenged to maximise the benefit of the data generated.

One example of data underpinning organisational change is Rolls Royce’s Power-By-The-Hour initiative, where the manufacturer leases engines to airlines, taking on all maintenance and reliability liabilities – pioneered over 60 years ago in 1962 37 The aviation industry has similar data ownership challenges to rail – with operators, manufacturers, maintainers, owners, and lessors having discussions on who owns the data, and to whom it should be available. The biggest benefits to airline customers have been strong safety and reliability improvement trends, coupled with freefalling ticket prices.

It is not just similar transportation industries that we should look to for lessons on data and the opportunities it can open for business success – and the challenges.

The histories of Kodak and Nokia, both of whom had great products and high market share, are well known. Step changes in technology, digital cameras, and smart phones, gave consumers functionality that they didn’t know they wanted until they got it, and then couldn’t live without. In the same vein, whole industries, not just businesses have been radically changed and challenged by technology, with the consumer gaining ever increased functionality. Just Eat went from a technology startup idea in Denmark in 2001 to a business startup in the Docklands, London in 2005 to having revenue of €3.4bn in 2020. Uber in the transport segment and Airbnb in the hospitality industry have both used well-designed software, easy and convenient for customers and new suppliers, to access and radically change the well-established mobility and hospitality industries.

In engineering and manufacturing, CAD (ComputerAided Design) and CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine tools have revolutionised design and production methods respectively since the 1980’s. Gone are huge halls of drafts-people and machinists working semi-independently; the former replaced by collaborative working at CAD stations where many engineers can work on parts and designs simultaneously across the globe; the latter with automated muti-axis mills and robotics. Production costs have tumbled with precision and repeatability capabilities concurrently improving. The evolution continues: the combination of machine learning, AI, automated design processes and additive manufacturing is opening yet more possibilities for optimisation and cost savings34

Perhaps one of the most visible digital changes, affecting everyone day-to-day, is the rise of electronic news and, later, social media. The media of old, whether print, radio or TV, was a one-way broadcasting arrangement; filtered and viewed through the eyes of a select few. Electronic news and citizen broadcasting opened this to citizen reporters, meaning significant events could be live-streamed by anyone with the equipment to do so – equipment later engineered into smartphones which are now ubiquitous. Later, wireless data and social media networks enabled direct, realtime contact between anyone, anywhere. Badly handled social media activity has brought down many individuals and several organisations which would have fared better in the filtered-media world. Perhaps the biggest impact of social media is the public expectation to access information on anything, to talk to anyone, anytime, and have live updates of any event, anywhere38 . Rail has had to respond to these changing expectations: most customer-facing railway organisations – whether voluntarily or otherwise – have adopted social media as one of several primary contact points.

Given the high infrastructure costs of alternatives, it is unlikely that the railway will be like Kodak and cease to exist its core market anytime soon. It is equally unlikely a start-up mobility provider could move – with the same efficiency – the vast numbers of passengers in high density locations of which commuter rail is uniquely capable, or indeed the long-distance, green solution which high-speed rail offers. However, this privileged position should not allow the industry to sit on its laurels: we need to ensure we remain innovative, progressive, and relevant to our customers.