The rail industry continues to face a number of difficult and expensive challenges. Cancellations and delays alone are responsible for up to £100m in lost annual revenue. Infrastructure and socioeconomic factors cost a further £300 million, and there are also indirect expenses caused by the 2500–6500 minutes of delays brought on by inclement weather each year.

Of course, these then create a downward trend in Public Performance Measures (PPM). 

Being able to access, collate, understand, and visualise historic and real-time data provides a tangible way to drive down costs and improve performance. You can use historical data trends to better predict future behaviour allowing you to shift from reactive to proactive measures.

Partnering with EES Data Solutions provides data specialists and engineers who can convert your data into actionable intelligence.

Help shift your workforce, and decisions, from ‘big data’ to ‘smart data’.

How EES Data Solutions benefits the rail industry

Here are some examples of how we provide meaningful benefits to organisations across the sector.

Network Rail – operations and maintenance

Our Data UK, Business Intelligence, and Advanced Analytics services are geared towards assessing data points and visualising data to achieve decarbonisation initiatives through: 

• Energy efficiency and renewable energy integration.
• Automation and improvement of processes (optimised efficiency and productivity).
• Enhanced forecasting to support data-driven decision-making.

Rolling Stock Leasing Companies

Preventing disruptions on the line becomes much more achievable when you have access to predictive models, scalable data structures and visualisation techniques. The combination of data insights with supportive communication providers allows for real-time decisions and future event predictions. 

Train Operating Companies (TOCs)

We can help you enhance personalised services with improved accessibility through bespoke AI-powered tools. These analyse your customer data for you to derive intelligence to help you better understand and serve your customers while eliminating exclusionary obstacles.

Freight Operating Companies (FOCs)

Depot digitisation, and digitalisation, allow you to mobilise your organisation, increase throughput, and the ability to plan and maintain your assets more effectively. 

See how we’re currently putting this into action.

Specifically, the project focuses on the monitoring of adhesion measures on the track, which impacts service quality and PPM for Network Rail, TOCs and their customers. It’s a widescale problem given that there are 13 million trees next to, or on, the British rail tracks. Annually, they drop up to 50,000 tonnes of leaves. The cost to maintain the tracks is estimated to be £10 million and in addition to £5 million per year for trackside vegetation management. 

The project seeks to improve PPM, reduce considerable delays, and realise cost savings. We’ll be providing access to real-time maintenance information and enabling digitisation (wherever possible) to improve predictive maintenance and safety measures.  

It’s a challenge! Here’s how we’re going to do it: 

1. Combine seven data sets (including weather, adhesion, leaf fall predictions, and historical performance scores) from a variety of organisations including Greater Anglia Rail, Network Rail and the Met Office.  
2. Provide a state prediction for the relevant part of the railway. 
3. Create a targeted plan of adhesion measures (based on the above).

It’s going to be a significant step forward in modernising maintenance and we’re excited to be part of it.