Digital technology holds the key to the UK railway future. Jerry England explains why.

They say that if you ask three economists a question, you’ll get five different answers. But if there’s one thing they agree on, it’s that taking the right choices about infrastructure is one of the most powerful ways a country can secure its economic future.  

In fact, one of the most important questions we face as a country is about how the railway can help our great cities in the Midlands and the north complement London and the south east by becoming powerful engines of national growth. 

"The question for Britain isn’t whether our railway should harness digital innovation to deliver more trains, better connections and greater convenience – it’s should we choose to act in this generation or the next."

The network is serving more passengers than ever at lower cost – but there’s no doubt about the challenges that lie ahead. 

Firstly, Britain’s dynamic economy is powered by city regions that need to connect more people to more places, more directly, than the railway was originally designed to do. Put simply, their success requires scope for more train paths that cut end-to-end journey times through better connections. 

Secondly, our busy railway will have to serve an additional 1bn journeys a year by 2030. So we need to act now in order to prevent passengers facing longer waits for trains that are more crowded, with fewer choices and where and when they stop.

Thirdly, we need to keep closing the gap between the convenient, personalised experience the public increasingly find in other areas of their lives and what they often encounter when they use the railway. 

These tests would be challenging at the best of times. But to be even considered, a strategy to meet them has to create a network that also costs less, performs better and never compromises safety. 

"We need to act now in order to prevent passengers facing longer waits for trains that are more crowded, with fewer choices and where and when they stop."

Traditional construction-based enhancements will continue to be vital in places, but the challenge to support jobs and growth in the 21st century simply cannot be met with a strategy from a pre-digital age. 

One of the world’s digitally advanced railways – the London Underground – is achieving substantial capacity, flexibility and performance benefits using a family of digital technologies that is being adopted increasingly around the world.  This summer, the first new train arrived for service on the Thameslink route as part of a digitally-enabled upgrade which will let trains flow into central London at Tube-like frequency from 2018. This autumn, analysis will be completed on the case for a faster digital roll-out on key routes.  

The question for Britain isn’t whether our railway should harness digital innovation to deliver more trains, better connections and greater convenience – it’s should we choose to act in this generation or the next.

Jerry England, Group director, Digital Railway at Network Rail