PaxLife Innovations
Welcome The Digital Train
This article first appeared in the Railway-News magazine Issue 2 2022.
railSTACK: Turning All Passenger-Focused Functionality into One Open Software-Based Service
According to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), passenger numbers using railways, trams and buses in Germany in 2021 are still down one third compared to 2019 before the pandemic. Therefore, getting the public back to using public transport requires intelligent strategic thinking and pragmatic, creative solutions, supported by super- flexible infrastructure, whether it is for providing up-to-date travel information and data for traffic flow management or to improve the onboard travel experience for all users.
If they are travelling less, passengers expect more from fewer trips; they expect to enjoy a ‘digital journey’ comparable to what they have at home or in the context of other services: to stream media, just like at-home, treat themselves with good digital services or potentially book new activities, regardless of the vehicle’s facilities, and view real-time travel information for a smooth and relaxing time, all while onboard.
However, meeting customer expectations and market needs in a simple, affordable, and timely manner remains a challenge for most transport companies. Industry trends require increasing levels of systems integration, and today’s systems are still mostly isolated from each other, specific to hardware equipment and quite difficult to upgrade with a new feature or even update. Upgrading system functionality will normally result in a significant time and capital investment. For example, a typical infotainment system will still be implemented in difficult-to- maintain firmware that is specific to the original system vendor.
Simple, Unified, Efficient, Affordable
In order to make a real difference, digital services and passenger- oriented functionality integrated and deployed onboard have to evolve in a simpler, more unified and more efficient way, while remaining affordable. An operator should have the ability to assign any preferred vendor, or even leverage its own teams to enhance and extend, at the time it is needed, any functionality that is passenger- focused.
