DAVID WABOSO CBE, Managing Director, Digital Railway, explained to the Railway Study Association what the rewards can be and how he hopes to achieve them
The main line railway has capacity problems, just like London Underground. It is a successful railway, but that has made it crowded. This is affecting its performance, with recent Public Performance Measure (PPM) figures showing modest decreases.
The infrastructure is under strain. Major works, such as those at London Bridge or electrification at several sites, take time. They also cause significant service disruption in their execution.
The future outlook would seem to be more of the same, with perhaps another doubling of passenger volumes in the next 20 years or so.
THE PROBLEM WE’RE ADDRESSING
Action is thus needed to address the capacity challenge. We could do nothing and rely on other modes of transport such as road, but that merely transfers the problem elsewhere.
Or, as we have done in the past, we could rely on conventional enhancements to provide incremental capacity increases.
Or can conventional enhancements be combined with digital, with less disruption and at cheaper overall whole life cost? Digital technology can replace manual ways of work…
