Railway operations are a crucial part of nation-building efforts. Building and protecting infrastructure given the diversity of terrain across the globe and consistently tracking the daily train movements requires efficiency. The integration of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) in various areas of operations has become more important than ever amid rising demand for a safe and secure transport system and increased urbanisation. AI and data analytics are influencing the modelling, design, and modification of the infrastructure being constructed in diverse terrain and climatic conditions. AI-powered video analytics have also enhanced safety and security capabilities.

Network Rail has emphasised its hi-tech approach to running the railway more efficiently across Great Britain. The infrastructure management company has adopted artificial intelligence (AI) to help it plan track maintenance more effectively and to keep trains running on time. The use of AI has already helped to reduce the number of track faults by 30%, and it is hoped that it will also lead to fewer delays and cancellations. Stay updated on last news about Artificial Intelligence. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Artificial intelligence jobs took the longest to fill across tech roles in the railway industry in Q2 2022 according to Railway Technology's analysis of millions of online job advertisements. Artificial intelligence job ads at these companies were online for an average of 47 days before being taken offline during the quarter, meaning they took 16 days longer to fill than an average job at the same companies. The figure for Q2 2022 was an increase compared to the equivalent figure a year earlier, indicating that the required skillset for these roles has become harder to find in the past year. Artificial intelligence is one of the topics that GlobalData, our parent company and from whom the data for this article is taken, have identified as being a key disruptive technology force facing companies in the coming years. Companies that excel and invest in these areas now are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

The paper describes the MetroPT data set, an outcome of a eXplainable Predictive Maintenance (XPM) project with an urban metro public transportation service in Porto, Portugal. The data was collected in 2022 that aimed to evaluate machine learning methods for online anomaly detection and failure prediction. By capturing several analogic sensor signals (pressure, temperature, current consumption), digital signals (control signals, discrete signals), and GPS information (latitude, longitude, and speed), we provide a dataset that can be easily used to evaluate online machine learning methods. This dataset contains some interesting characteristics and can be a good benchmark for predictive maintenance models.

The proportion of railway equipment and technologies companies hiring for artificial intelligence related positions rose in August 2021, with 29.7% of the companies included in our analysis recruiting for at least one such position. This latest figure was higher than the 24.6% of companies who were hiring for artificial intelligence related jobs in July 2021 and an increase compared to the figure of 23.5% for the equivalent month last year. When it came to the proportion of all job openings that were linked to artificial intelligence, related job postings dropped in August 2021, with 0.8% of newly posted job advertisements being linked to the topic. This latest figure was an increase compared to the 0.7% of newly advertised jobs that were linked to artificial intelligence in the equivlent month a year ago. Artificial intelligence is one of the topics that GlobalData, from whom our data for this article is taken, have identified as being a key disruptive force facing companies in the coming years.

The ancient Silk Road, once the longest overland trade route, ran over 4,000 miles long. Today nestled in Eurasia's heart along the Silk Road is the national railway company – Kazakhsthan Temir Zholy (KTZ). Though traversing across this historic pathway sounds rather cool, the complex geography and harsh weather conditions propose serious challenges in operating cargo and passenger transportation. KTZ is a crucial part of Kazakhstan – the world's ninth-largest country – and its economy. This railway company knew the importance of having a seamless operating model in order to maintain its current operations, both on and off the track.

Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the railway industry. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 4 promising artificial intelligence startups. For our 4 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 4 interesting examples out of 21 relevant solutions.