UK transport secretary Mark Harper’s assertion that the only way to reduce the cost of rail is to reduce services lacks ambition (“Rail operators in England to be offered bigger profit incentive”, Report, November 18). This assumes rail services are well timed and targeted, and that customers simply prefer other modes of transport. The problem is that rail doesn’t have the data-led insight to know this is true, so we risk removing services without offering anything better.
Unlike other transport modes, the process of scheduling rail services happens annually, using outdated technology. It is incapable of using modern predictive data analytics, such as search-engine traffic or emerging weather patterns. If rail’s planners and regulators used data more intelligently, they could understand real demand, and better schedule and price services accordingly. Through technology modernisation, it can better meet real-world customer needs, and stop running trains that are too full to be attractive or too empty to be profitable.
As much as the trains and tracks, we must upgrade our rail sector’s mindset.
Martin Howell
Director — Transport Markets,
Worldline UK&I, Nottingham, UK
