Smart Stations

Automate and optimise processes with IoT deployment

What are Smart Stations?

The Smart Station or Instrumented Station is the vision of the future for the rail industry as it ensures processes are automated and optimised through the use of IoT and allows organisations to obtain a better understanding of the current situation of working environments.

A key enabler of the Smart Station is IoT. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a popular term in recent years that simply describes the connectivity of an object with the internet. The rail industry has introduced IoT to innovate and improve their services, while continuing to enhance the customer experience. Alongside other technologies such as mobile workforce management, wearables, dynamic scheduling and data insights, the technology provides the opportunity to streamline processes, monitor and react accordingly to assets, and enhance passenger experience, while reducing costs.

The rail sector can therefore transform the way services are offered by generating data from every interaction with customers and physical assets to help make informed business decisions in real time.

IoT sensors can detect a range of information including the amount of footfall, occupancy of passengers travelling on a train or using station facilities as well as identifying if facilities are in a suitable state of use, or if they require cleaning or an adjustment to the temperature.

IoT sensors can provide Train Operating Companies assistance with a range of activities such as:

Occupancy and footfall within stations and on platforms
Capacity planning and monitoring such as bike rack usage, availability and abandonment and train usage based on time, dates and seasonal influence
Smart washrooms – whether washrooms / smart meeting rooms need cleaning, bins need emptied
Humidity, temperature of platforms (smart gritting) or meeting rooms
Transec security checks
Pollution monitoring
Train delay monitoring
Utilities sub metering
Tracking and use of assets
Station refuge collection
Instrumented lifts
Legionella monitoring
Suicide gate monitoring
Ticket office queue times

What value does Smart Stations provide your rail organisation?

IoT deployments make service delivery easier, faster and more secure for customers by enhancing services, increasing engagement and strengthening security. Train Operating Companies can then start to make important, informed decisions on capacity planning such as whether to provide more trains at peak times, improve communications and overall efficiencies, while aiming to reduce the risk of imposed fines and enhance the customer experience. This ultimately helps rail organisations deliver innovation and work towards providing a smart railway station to continuously innovate and ensure the delivery of market leading services.

Benefits include:

Enabling the monitoring of data and ensuring it is automatically stored to a consistent standard, ensuring jobs are undertaken when required, reducing human error and improving compliance with SLA’s

Enables automated processes that facilitate the undertaking of a timelier service which drives consistency in high quality service delivery for both customers and staff

Although many would argue the cost of passenger fares are increasing, the introduction of innovative technologies enables rail organisations to save across all operational costs

IoT presents the opportunity for organisations to be more proactive rather than reactive. Organisations can continuously monitor the status of assets and facilities, allowing you to respond to potential issues in a timelier manner and preventing further, more costly problems from occurring

Encouraging passengers to cycle to stations to become more aware of helping to achieve an improved carbon footprint. This helps enable an environmentally friendly service while reducing the amount of carbon emissions overall.

Sense from Totalmobile:

Totalmobile’s IoT solution can automate the creation and undertaking of any required work that has been identified to streamline operational processes and enhance service delivery.

The ability to action data by IoT sensor technology enables your organisation to improve passenger experience, keep services running smoothly, enhance compliance and ensure your employees are productive and empowered with the correct technology to deliver services efficiently.

For further information on our solution and how we can help you implement and deliver a smart railway station, please click here.