Situational Awareness for Rail

Ineffective safety systems in the rail industry have resulted in avoidable fatalities and near misses with high-speed trains. Fatal incidents, including a rail worker killed earlier this year, and two who lost their lives near Port Talbot in 2019, are shocking and deeply distressing events that have high economic, societal and emotional impact.

While the industry has undergone a radical transformation in recent years, earning it the reputation of one of the safest and most reliable rail networks in the world, there has been minimal innovation in safety to protect its rail side workers.

Demand for rail transport is expected to increase by 58% over the next 10-years, and there is a focus on building bigger and better rail systems as well as continual maintenance and upgrade programmes. The people who carry out these essential works to maintain and renew our railways face a number of safety risks, including moving trains, exposure to high-voltage electricity and adverse weather conditions.

Current systems in place to ensure worker safety, which include the lookout warning safe system of work and equipment warnings are ineffective. Other methods for ensuring employee safety include communication equipment which depends on the technology working correctly. For example, Bluetooth and GPS can be corrupted by electronic interference, which can have severe implications for worker safety.

Tended is developing an innovative solution to address the pressing safety challenges that rail workers face. Combining our existing wearable safety technology with high-precision GNSS and sensor fusion, we can determine the exact location of track-side engineers. We can then notify users in real-time through haptic vibrations on the wearable if they stray onto a live track and into dangerous environments.

This solution represents the first of its kind to transform track-side safety and bring it in line with the high performance standing from the other aspects of the industry.

This technology has the potential to be the key-stone solution behind Network Rail's new £70m task force and advance the safety of rail workers. Further, it will support the rail industry as it continues to deliver growth and essential services.

We envision a working environment where employees can focus on the task at hand with peace of mind, knowing that their safety is being reliably monitored. With innovative technology, we can help to boost efficiency and support this critical network.