It is a provider's responsibility to show and to clarify to costumers the benefits of this cultural change. For many operators this is a crucial aspect, as it has been shown in the workshops organized by the SBB CFF FFS last Friday in Zurich. A big representation of Swiss companies and from other European countries presented their reflections and experiences regarding this topic, specially regarding the key specifications called to be the foundations of future solutions in this field.

Intelis, our Swiss partner, and smart motors® suggested as a key task prior to any project, to settle an accepted level of expectations. This means to clearly separate the proved performance of the tool shown in previous implementations (its maturity) and other expected capabilities. As partners, operator and provider have to define a realistic strategy to ensure quick wins but also long term wins. From our experience, it is also important to emphasize the role of Reporting and support service in the service chain.

We strongly recommend initiatives like this one to lead the evolution of solutions on Digitization. We must work so that Condition monitoring, Big Data and statistical event prediction are as beneficial as in the industrial sectors more advanced in their use, in which today it would be unimaginable work without them.

Furthermore, by means of the functionality of Passenger counting, the operator knows the carriage occupation at any moment on any line, which allows analysis of how supply matches demand, in the present and in the future. In addition, the operator can monitor and analyse passenger comfort in real time: temperature, overcrowding, noise, reduced mobility access or mobile coverage.
However, the operator is not the only one who can take advantage of this data, but the users will also benefit, as shown in this example of the platform screens.

With Digital Train® technology it will be possible to design new station screens with all the relevant information shown in the image. Applying this new functionality of Digital Train® to the platform panels, the user can see not only when the next train will pass, but also know if the carriages are overcrowded, their temperature, and which carriage or carriages are reduced mobility adapted.