Data‑Driven Rail Planning
Client type
A group of major stakeholders involved in rail infrastructure, planning, and operations.
Challenge
There was a growing need to close the gap between how the railway was planned to operate — and how it actually did. Despite extensive planning efforts, discrepancies between timetables and real‑world conditions made it difficult to ensure punctuality, coordinate effectively, and optimise capacity.
What we did
We built a data‑driven representation of real train movements based on historical operational data. This made it possible to see, with precision, where plans consistently broke down in practice. We enabled stakeholders across planning and operations to use this shared insight to evaluate and design timetables that better reflect real‑world conditions — without increasing infrastructure. We also established explicit feedback loops from real‑world operations back into the planning processes (tactical and operational), supported by mathematical models (e.g., dwell/throughput estimates, buffer‑time sensitivity, and pattern detection) that quantify where and how to adjust plans.
Results
- Surfaced hidden patterns and constraints that impact punctuality and performance
- Demonstrated how data‑driven planning can align strategy with operational reality and support smarter, system‑wide decisions
- Delivered a working product showing how collaborative planning benefits from a shared view of what’s actually happening