According to Marc, each project showcased at the event has been supported via Northern’s own innovation pot, receiving up to £50,000 in grant funding. Many suppliers have matched the investment with contributions “in kind” either by offering complimentary fit outs, or additional services.
HUBER+SUHNER demonstrated their trackside Wi-Fi connectivity project, providing reliable broadband wireless networks between trains, stations and along the track. The project uses existing track infrastructure rather than needing to build new masts, which helps with cost savings. This configuration has been tested on the Isle of Man and the next step will be to trial the technology over long distances.
RazorSecure has been working with Northern since the beginning of the Digital Train project, providing cyber security for the new fleet. RazorSecure uses machine learning to build a baseline of ‘normal behaviour’ for each individual system and alert the train operator. Continuous security monitoring also allows Northern to track and monitor over 20,000 digital assets across the fleet. The team at RazorSecure deals with a wide spectrum of threats, attacks, and potential cyber risks across the rail industry.
Incremental highlighted ‘OLErt’ (Overhead Line Equipment in Real-Time) - a hardware-agnostic remote condition monitoring solution which analyses small changes in OLE infrastructure to identify emerging problems. When a problem is detected, engineering teams can be alerted (in real-time) to the exact location of track to enable them to carry out maintenance before an anomaly becomes a bigger issue.
Northern are currently running a trial using video footage data captured from an existing on-train camera to measure and monitor the interface between the pantograph and OLE. The goal of the trial is to illustrate whether OLErt can facilitate effective remote monitoring of OLE with minimal adjustments to on-train hardware.
The data generated by the trial to date is looking encouraging. The next step for OLErt would be to continue to roll out the technology on a greater number of passenger trains across the UK rail network.
Belvoir Rail has developed a range of products capable of comprehensive performance and reliability monitoring across railway systems. Adapted from other industries, technology including Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), thermal and acoustics technologies are collecting data about Northern trains and Network Rail infrastructure to give an indicator of the operating systems health.
The Environment Agency has also become interested in the capability of these sensing and detection tools to track seasonal changes on the railway network landscape to analyse flood and landslip causes.
The technology is being fitted and trialled on Northern trains from August 2022. Belvoir are working with
Modux on this, and Modux are developing the software for the real-time data capture, analytics and management.
Modux are delivering a highly capable privilege access management system and remote access gateway to allow Northern to safely and securely access onboard systems.
ADComms started speaking with Northern about installing hardware for intelligent trains, such as CCTV, passenger information, passenger counting and USB’s. The company developed the cloud-based system allowing remote access to live data, including live and recorded images from the train. The system has further been enhanced to offer a single point of sign-on for drivers to tag anomalies during travel, such as vegetation, track issues or similar - which then goes to a central system for Northern to monitor via an automatic upload of footage. They are also providing Northern with analytical options such as heatmapping, person recognition, damaged assets, and pro-active maintenance for doors. The company now wants to expand the offering to other train operators.
Icomera’s integrated connectivity platform supports a full suite of digital solutions for Northern that improve the passenger experience, offer enhanced operational efficiency, and provide better safety and security. For each live train, Icomera has been assigned as Northern’s single point of contact for all onboard systems. Additionally, Icomera is currently acting as the primary supplier for several of Northern’s innovation projects, including detecting whether vegetation is encroaching on the operational railway envelope, monitoring the operational status of platform lighting, reporting on signals, and the condition of the rail head along a route.
TrainFX have worked with Northern Trains for many years and have their Passenger Information System (PIS) fitted to over 70% of the Northern train fleet. The company continues to enhance their systems to benefit the passenger experience, train crew, back office/monitoring and reliability.
TrainFX showcased their latest PIS enhancements, which included:
- Speakers mounted on the exterior of the train near the doors which uses the onboard PIS to provide announcements to the station.
- Integration into Single Point Sign On (SPSO) this provides the ability to initialise the on train systems (including PIS) from a single point of entry.
- Reason Codes – Real time reason codes displayed upon the PIS screens providing up to the minute information about a train being delayed.
- Delay- Repay Real time delay repay messages displayed upon the PIS screens, keeping passengers informed regarding their refund entitlements.
- Default Messaging – A secure two factor authentication process which prevents unauthorised messages being displayed upon the PIS screens
- Text to Speech - Speedy transmission of tailored audible messages using predefined voice choices delivered remotely to trains in near real time.