Q: Please briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience within the railway/transport industry, and how it relates to the theme of the seminar?
Rod Muttram, Junior Vice President, The Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (RM): I have held senior positions in the rail industry for around 30 years. I was Director of Electrical Engineering and Control Systems and then Director of Safety and Standards at Railtrack. After setting up the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) I left what by then had become Network Rail and joined Bombardier Transportation at VP level. Since 2012 I have been an independent consultant. I have been involved with digitisation and automation for over 50 years. I will be President of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) in 2026.
Nick Reed, Chief Road Safety Adviser, National Highways and Founder, Reed Mobility (NR): My work aims to create transport systems that are safe, clean, efficient, ethical and equitable - and much of that involves how technology can help support that aim.
Rebeka Sellick, Business Development Director, UK & Europe, Cordel (RS): I've over 30 years in railway engineering asset management and I'm currently exploring technologies and processes to better support frontline maintainers to enhance the reliability and performance across the railway system.
My expert colleagues at Cordel refine AI applications to do what they're good at - processing the very big, repetitive data we capture - and I help to ensure we deliver insight that helps the real human engineering decision-makers.
Q: What is the top challenge facing industry at present - and how will developments around AI help address this?
RM: Of the many challenges facing industry, I will pick one that particularly affects rail and road transportation and the utilities; that is the impact of climate change on aging infrastructure. AI should be able to provide us with tools (and to some degree is already) to better predict and prevent or mitigate these effects.
NR: AI and automation promise to transform transportation. However, the excitement about this potential can lead to new safety risks that this technology might introduce being overlooked. My work seeks ways to accelerate the benefits of AI and automation whilst ensuring that appropriate guard rails are in place and the societal impacts are well considered.
RS: Railways always need to do more with less - to deliver more efficiency and better performance with the least investment.
We're developing AI to do the boring bits at scale and at pace. Machine Learning can sift through the very big data we're now gathering to make sense of it - and free up humans (especially engineers) to make decisions on a sound basis.
Q: How would you say industry has changed over the past five years?
RM: The two biggest effects in the last 5 years are probably those from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The first has driven a huge increase in 'working from home' for some industries with changed passenger transport patterns and volumes only just recovering to 2018 levels. The second has driven an increase in energy costs and a desire for increased energy security along with the drive for de-carbonisation. The second has also led to a partial re-building of our defence manufacturing capability, but broader manufacturing security still needs attention.
NR: The global pandemic obviously changed demand for the rail network but the recovery is well under way. We now have to consider how we can take advantage of technologies that have been developed in the mean time to ensure we have the right capacity and quality of service to support efficient, sustainable transportation in the years ahead - whilst also building resilience to future challenges.
RS: The industry has explored AI with R&D and pilots, but not yet productionised it into business-as-usual to really add value for railway engineers.
Q: How are AI and other data-driven innovations impacting the roles of railway engineers?
RM: Big Data and AI are tools that allow a better understanding of asset condition and how it is changing allowing more targeted maintenance and a move to prevention rather than cure. It should also speed up the design process allowing better option development and selection.
NR: Automation could dramatically change how rail systems operate with the potential for alternative train configurations and operating regimes, faster recovery of timetables following disruption and easier maintenance and management of rolling stock and the network. The safe and successful integration of such technologies into an ageing network with resource constraints will require the skill and ingenuity of railway engineers.
RS: AI already impacts railway engineers by: 1. unlocking more efficient assessment of compliance to standards; and 2. providing analysis that pinpoints issues for humans to focus on and resolve.
AI is already demonstrating the potential for holistic maintenance by deepening and widening our understanding. This enhanced inter-disciplinary understanding will enable engineers to create a step change in efficiency and performance of the railway system as a whole.
Q: What will you be covering in your presentation at the seminar and how do you hope it will help the engineering audience?
RM: The key factors in producing 'trustworthy AI'. The further steps that are still needed to allow the use of Machine Learning (ML) in safety critical as well than safety related applications.
NR: I will be discussing progress in the automation of road vehicles, how the changes expected ten years ago have failed to materialise (and why), how we can move forward from here and the implications of this for the rail industry.
RS: I will present a case study giving examples of real impact on railway engineering today and future potential. My focus is on AI for railway infrastructure engineering monitoring: is it a panacea for people and processes?
- Where are the pain points in infrastructure monitoring today?
- How can AI address the pain? What are the benefits of AI?
- What is AI delivering now? Is AI worth having?
Q: Which other speakers and presentations are you looking forward to hearing at this forthcoming event?
RM: All of them. I am always keen to learn!
NR: As I have a human factors background, I'm really looking forward to David Golightly's presentation discussing a human-centric view on AI for the railways. It is always interesting to understand the challenges we have in making engineering innovation work successfully in the human context.
RS: I'm particularly excited to learn about Prof Nick Reed's vision based on his automotive/highways governmental vision and engineering implementations.
Q: Which other speakers and presentations are you looking forward to hearing at this forthcoming event?
RM: This a very fast moving field with many opportunities, risks and unknowns. There is far more to be gained from sharing good practice than from maintaining confidentiality.
NR: The development of systems that use AI and automation could revolutionise the rail sector but we have to capitalise on knowledge and experiences from across the industry to ensure this technology is introduced safely and effectively. Exchanging ideas at events such as this creates the perfect platform to make sure the UK sector is able to develop and implement AI and automation-based systems and exploit all the benefits they may deliver.
RS: AI has so much potential for us in railways, we should make sure we know what's happening, what could happen and how to make the most of it all.
Join this seminar to:
- Understand the likely impacts of the widespread use of AI on current roles in the rail industry
- Learn about what AI can do, as well as what it cannot
- Gain insights on the risks and opportunities to the industry from AI
- Appreciate the human factors challenges AI presents
- Understand the impacts of AI in other sectors, and the implications for rail
To book your place, please visit the event website.