How courage, creativity and collaboration will be key to unlocking the transformative power of AI in rail

The railway we know and love has changed over the past two centuries, but it’s still metal on metal with pretty much the same technology from 20 years ago… while the world has evolved massively.

Steam, diesel and electric marks its progress, but the presence of Artificial Intelligence in today’s world has the potential to take us to a next level we cannot afford to ignore.

Private and public sectors must be creative, courageous, committed and collaborative in their approach to AI in rail, or the industry risks being swept away – like the Blockbuster film rental business after its refusal to buy Netflix.

We need an urgent mindset shift to a more output-based style of procurement and a step away from the industry’s blame culture if we are to power true societal and economic change for future generations.

Only open-minded procurement will secure mutually beneficial ‘give and get’ public-private deals that accelerate the adoption of AI. It’s why our just published whitepaper, AI on track: Revolutionising rail services with artificial intelligence calls on government to set up a Rail Innovation Taskforce to encourage those partnerships.

I was greatly encouraged to hear so many thought-leaders from government, regional authorities and industry echoing Worldline’s desire for urgent action at our recent AI for Rail Summit.

Former Transport Minister Steve Norris told the audience at London’s BT Tower that inefficiencies built into the rail process have gone unchallenged for too long. He’s right, but now they can be - in his words – “using AI in a way that creates a better railway and revolutionises the way we travel”.

Bringing together experts for hopefully the first of many similar events allowed us to look at what AI is – and what it is not. Conversations about open collaboration for the benefit of invention and innovation will be critical to its adoption.

It’s also important for the industry to realise AI is not a magic wand. It will be a case of learning from any mistakes we make so it won’t be a straight direction of travel but more a meandering one. But doing nothing really isn’t an option.

The main thing is the industry keeps talking because the conversation needs to be continuous and constantly challenging or nothing will ever move forward.

The Government-backed GBRX represents an unprecedented opportunity to implement online rail ticket retailing solutions and deploy a more digitally-driven strategy, so we were delighted to hear from its Managing Director Toufic Machnouk.

Toufic said: “We want to reduce the fog of complexity to unlock commercial barriers to… advance the potential of AI in a way that’s progressive. We have to begin by making the conversation as real as possible. The more we’re distracted by hype, the more of a disservice we’ll do to ourselves and the sector so let’s work together to talk about AI and how we understand it, to identify barriers while not expecting it to be a panacea.”

The appetite for a new approach to data sharing would elevate the decision-making process for the benefit of rail customers, who are the most important part of this equation. We need to collaborate with them too because we can’t be so arrogant to assume they will get on a train and travel 100 miles without question.

The number one priority must be making AI a benefit to the public purse. If we can lessen the load on the taxpayer, government will invest in it because they’re a major shareholder.

The rail Industry cannot run without the private sector which now has to put its money where its mouth is. If the private sector signs up and the public sector works with it, the benefits of this technology will be felt much faster.

As a business we’ll continue to grow wider engagement by onboarding our industry-changing AI products. Collaboration with leaders in other areas is vital because no one business can be an expert in every field.

But when it comes to AI there’s also an element of ‘we’re going to do this’ – somewhere between the two is the perfect balance.

There will be fears it will destroy our jobs. That’s natural, but in reality, we will learn how to integrate it into our lives. AI won’t stop and generative AI will lead to a four-day week within my lifetime, but as with all innovation it needs flexibility and a different way of thinking.

I’m hoping the Summit will be a catalyst for both and we can move forward, better informed with a common purpose of building a rail network we’re proud of that matches the needs of my granddaughter.

Here are a few of the Summit soundbites that captured the mood…

Antoine Larmanjat, Technical Director, Google Cloud

“We’re moving to a world of AGI where we can converse with an AI system that will be able to perform actions in the real world – and that will be a game changer. Algorithms will be turned into much more simple prompts to do things currently requiring a lot of coding, prompts and time.”

Mark Briers, Director of Data Science, BT

“We worked on the Covid 19 app and had 60 days to balance liberty against health. That was an urgent AI deployment so we can go very quickly if we look for urgent pain points where AI intervention can help… and go after those problems.”

Chris Walker, Partner at Baringa

“We’re seeing greatest levels of adoption in sectors that operate most closely to customers as well as high levels of competition because the tools can reduce admin by between 40 and 80%.”

Marie Daly, COO, Transport for Wales

“We need to change the mindset around how we procure to be able to buy the best possible ticket at the best price, and GBR needs to change its mindset around data.”

Dr Sue Wood, Clinical Psychologist at Changing Minds

 “The biggest factor for people adopting AI is the ‘so what’, but if we show customers the impact and ease of use that AI can bring, they will embrace it. Early adopters are open to experience and new ideas while the conscientious are less trusting, so it’s vital that behavioural issues are addressed by the industry. People were resistant to paying for things on their phones but how many people still have coins in their pockets now?”

Steve Norris, Former Transport Minister

“The world is at a stage where we are entering a pivot that in terms of impact hasn’t been seen since the advent of the internet. There are challenges but we need to be brave.”

And finally, me again…

“Having a holistic view of the total system with customers at its core is vital. You don’t need 10 different ecommerce providers and 10 different ticketing systems because customers don’t care about that. I hope GBR looks at some of the longer-term principles around economics that can really benefit customers.”

Find out more in our AI for Rail whitepaper  - AI on track: Revolutionising rail services with artificial intelligence