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Quality certification for Digital Rail

Conference Railway

ISO 9001 is recognised worldwide as the international benchmark for quality within an organisation.

By achieving our ISO 9001 certification, Digital Rail are able to demonstrate to customers and suppliers that the systems we have in place meet the high standards set out by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

To gain the ISO 9001 certification, Digital Rail had to demonstrate our dedication and commitment to meeting our customers’ needs, operating efficient management processes and delivering consistent, good quality products and services.

Each year, an external Audit is carried out by a third party to ensure our systems are maintained and any non-conformances are noted for correction.

If you would like to check the validity of our ISO 9001 certification or find out more about the ISO 9001 principles we follow please get in touch today, we would be delighted to speak with you.

Digital Rail featured in the Economist

 

An intelligent vision system currently being developed by Digital Rail was featured in the Economist this week. Digital Rail has been working with Lancaster University for the last two years on an smart video analytics system to reduce train delays and increase passenger safety. The article focuses on the how the system can reduce train delays by using CCTV cameras to accurately predict the busyness of each train carriage. This information is then transmitted wirelessly to the platform, where the it can be displayed to passengers awaiting the incoming train.

The story was also featured in The Economist podcast, which you can listen to online. The feature begins 15 minutes in.

An Intelligent Vision System for the Platform Train Interface

Last week, Digital Rail Limited hosted a demonstration afternoon at Lancaster University to launch their Intelligent Vision System for the Platform Train Interface. The Intelligent Vision System is designed to both improve passenger safety and increase efficiency of trains. The passenger safety system quickly alerts train staff to dangerous scenarios at doors, mitigating potential injuries.  The passenger experience system “nudges” passengers awaiting trains towards the less busy carriages.

The purpose of the day was to introduce and demonstrate the Intelligent Vision System and explore the opportunities this presents within the rail industry. There were representatives from TOCS, ROSCOs, Network Rail, TfL, Metrolink and RSSB.  Following the live demonstration, there was a wide ranging and stimulating discussion regarding the opportunities and challenges in the route to implementation. This concluded with a SWOT analysis. The analysis highlighted the potential for humans to become reliant on such safety systems. This emphasised the importance of ensuring that the Intelligence Vision System supports human decision making, but doesn’t replace it.

Read more about the Intelligent Vision System, or get in touch if you would like a personalised demonstration.

 

Fourth International Conference on Railway Technology

Fourth International Conference on Railway Technology

I’m excited to announce that I will be running a special session next week, on Thursday 6th September in Barcelona- SS20 – Using Big Data to Increase Railway Resilience. This is part of the Fourth International Conference on Railway Technology, Railways 2018.

http://www.railwaysconference.com/resources/updateable/pdf/Oral%20Programme_6Aug.pdf

Our own contribution will be “Predicting wheels slides; traditional and future methods”.

See you in Barcelona folks!

#digitalrail #RAIL2018

 

Fourth International Conference on Railway Technology

Two New Appointments for Digital Rail®

Damian Borowiec

Digital Rail Ltd are delighted to announce the  appointments of:

Dr Rhian Davies

We are pleased to say that Dr Rhian Davies has joined Digital Rail Ltd, as a Data Scientist . Rhian has worked as a data scientist for the last 3 years having graduated with a PhD in Statistics from Lancaster University from where she also obtained a first class degree Maths and Statistics.

Dr Rhian Davies

Dr Rhian Davies

Damian Borowiec

Damian is a computer scientist graduate from Lancaster University. Damian won the Chancellors medal for exceptional performance as an undergraduate, a highly prestigious award.

 

Damian Borowiec

Damian Borowiec

They will both we working on a data analytics project which is seeking to optimise train maintenance by scheduling the maintenance each night based upon the health of the train. We are happy about these appointments as the railway has to attract new young talent and soon!

Natural Language Search Analytics

Using Natural Language Processing to Empower Data Democratization

•Enables non-technical users with the freedom to create reports and dashboards by their own.
•Increases productivity and the time spent on creating reports and dashboards.
•Empowers users with data-driven decision.

Streamlining Safety Case document production on large projects

Digital Rail are responsible for producing Safety Cases for the Manchester Metrolink Tram Management System (TMS).  With almost 30 sites to cover, we opted to use Microsoft Office tools to streamline the production of the site Safety Cases – each of which has an identical document structure based on EN50129,

The tool was developed in Excel + Word + VBA. We created a template in Word which uses tokens that are replaced by values from an Excel spreadsheet. The tool also integrated with the client Document Management System and DOORS.

The tool also provides management facilities  to track progress for document production for each site. We estimate that this approach has saved 20% on project costs and we are currently investigating further uses of this approach on a wide range of projects.

Lancaster University Management School Student Project

Digital Rail have recently completed a project working with a group of Business and Marketing students from Lancaster University’s Management School.

Working closely with the students over a 6 month period, their project specification was to draw up a plan on how to bring one of Digital Rail’s products to market. The product was a workflow engine tool for analysis, certification and test that we are developing in collaboration with the Austrian Institute of Technology called WeFact.

The students carried out detailed research which included interviewin industry-experts and sending out surveys. At the end of the project the students delivered a Presentation and produced an in-depth Report detailing how Digital Rail can market the product, as well outlining challenges to market, potential product development, and a suggested product business plan.

“Working with Digital Rail on the development of its joint project with the AIT has been an incredibly valuable and enjoyable experience. Howard is an enthusiastic, charismatic, and approachable professional who greatly values the inputs of others around him and gave us real responsibility and opportunities from the very start. We would like to sincerely thank Howard for this incredible opportunity and wish him the very best of success with the project in the future.”

We thoroughly enjoyed working with the students. The project helped us gain an insight into how to bring a niche product such as WeFact to market, and gave the students first-hand experience of developing their skills and expertise working with a real business on a challenging brief.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Howard and Digital Rail. This experience has been an eye opener into a fast growing, important industry that has provided a great opportunity to develop and enhance our skills. We hope that the WEFACT tool finds success in the future and wish the team well.”

 

 

Using artificial intelligence to identify non-compliance against engineering standards for railways

Artificial Intelligence

Get paid to do a Masters with the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation at Lancaster University (The Sunday Times’ University of the Year 2018) and Digital Rail Ltd.

 

The Project

Transport is one of the fastest growing contributors to climate change. Rail travel produces lower carbon emissions than travelling by car and offers an efficient alternative for those looking to reduce their carbon footprint. This project will work to understand and increase the efficiencies of railway networks to improve this even further.

This project will utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analysis and modelling techniques to identify and predict problem areas of the UK rail network. These are areas which do not have the resilience and capacity to withstand common problems which lead to train service delays. The associated economic and environmental cost of this is huge, with the need for additional rail services, replacement buses and network maintenance. This project will identify indicators of concern and build a prediction model. This will allow Digital Rail Ltd to work with rail networks to increase efficiencies and direct resources to the most appropriate areas.

This project would suit a graduate with a background in engineering or computer science who is capable of coding and developing advanced APIs.

 

Enterprise and collaborative partners

This Masters by Research is a collaborative research project between Lancaster University, with supervision by Dr Paul Rayson, and Digital Rail Ltd.

Digital Rail is a business that develops products for railway safety and resilience using advanced technologies in machine learning. It owns intellectual property and patents on several products such as Machine Vision and Big Data analytics. Digital Rail Ltd also provides services and training to railway clients including Independent Safety Assessment (ISA).

 

1 Year Enterprise-led Funded Masters by Research, Ref. No. 90

  • Get paid £15,000 tax-free
  • Have you tuition fees reduced. Your partner company pays £2,000 towards your fees, meaning UK/EU students pay £2,260, and International students pay £15,945.
  • Be part of the multi award winning Centre for Global Eco-Innovation with a cohort of 50 talented graduates working on exciting business-led R&D.
  • The Centre is based at Lancaster University, so you will gain your Masters from a Top Ten University, recognised as The Sunday Times University of the Year 2018.
  • Finish in a strong position to enter a competitive job market in the UK and overseas.

 

Apply Here

To apply for this opportunity please email graduate-applications@cgeinnovation.org with:

This project is part funded by the European Regional development Fund and is subject to confirmation of funding. For further information about the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, please see their website.

Application deadline

Midnight Tuesday 19th June 2018

Start: October 2018

We Assessed Shanghai’s New Driver-Less People Mover

Shanghai Metro

Digital Rail partnered with CRITICAL Software to conduct the independence safety assessment of the vehicles, track system and interfaces of the Shanghai Metro Line 8 Phase III Automated People Mover.

These vehicles will provide safe transportation in airports and dense urban areas all around the world. They are fully automated, able to cope with the bands of transporting millions of passengers each year.

Our assessment covered project plans, specifications, design tests and supplied products, as well as installation, commissioning and operations of the vehicles, the infrastructure and interfaces communication with other systems. Our work helped to achieve high safety levels in line with international standards.

 

Shanghai Metro