Amy Jeffs from Hey Me and Abi Broadley from Abi Broadley Consulting have joined forces to deliver an independent white paper, ‘Critical Success Factors to Embedding Innovation in UK Rail’. A bespoke piece of research, the white paper identifies five critical success factors gained the experiences of over 50 contributors from across the rail industry from Network Rail to SMEs, academia to investors and tier 1s to public bodies.
It is widely recognised that the rail sector has a long history of innovation however adoption of solutions and scale is an omnipresent challenge. As cited by RSSB, innovators risk multiple valleys of death and can fall victim to what GBRX calls “pilot confetti”. To address this, the partners have spent the last eight months extensively researching published literature before asking for real experiences from the people involved in innovation from across the industry.
Highlighting the level of collaboration achieved, the team conducted 38 interviews, facilitated a roundtable and coordinated a panel event throughout the research gathering process. Participants included senior managers from Network Rail, innovation leads from train operators, MDs and founders from SMEs, rail experts, engineers, and investors from organisations including Hitatchi, Unipart, Universal Signalling, One Big Circle, RSSB, Connected Places Catapult and Innovate UK.
At the white paper launch event at the National Railway Museum in York on Thursday 22nd October, speakers explored the topics discussed in the white paper; from what the critical success factors mean in real life and the live opportunities for innovation that the industry can engage with now. The paper identifies five critical success factors: solve a real problem, collaboration, communication, having the right champion, commitment and persistence:
· Solve a real problem: Know the challenge and the environment it will operate in, inside out. Understand how the solution will impact the client organisation and the end user and well as what impact or value will it have.
· Collaboration: The key to innovation success. Be ready to work closely with others from across the industry to make sure the solution fits the real need.
· Communication: Without it no one would know what was needed, what already existed and what opportunities there were, not to mention being able to embed change and enable adoption in large organisations.
· Having the right champions: Product Acceptance sponsors aside, build a network of champions that can help spread the word and ‘sell’ the solution across the industry.
Commitment and persistence: Innovation in rail can take more than a decade. Be ready and plan for the full process.
Amy Jeffs commented:
“This project began because we were curious about one question: why do some innovations succeed when others stall? But as we spoke to more people, the idea grew. We have been careful to maintain the paper’s independence as we wanted it to be able to tell the story from real experiences and build advice that everyone can use.
“It has been incredible to speak to so many people across the industry who all want the same thing and are willing to work together to achieve success. There’s a bright future for rail innovation if we can harness that energy and all make incremental changes.”
Abi Broadley said:
“I believe railways are so much more than tracks and trains. Railways connect people and communities, transporting passengers and freight and are vitally important to the UK’s socioeconomic prosperity. Standing still and maintaining the status quo is not an option if we are to build a ‘better, cleaner, greener, simpler’ railway.
“This has been a fascinating and insightful project. We owe a huge thank you to all who have helped and supported us in understanding more about successful innovation and the adoption of new ideas in rail. We are now in the planning stages of what comes next. We are going to harness the passion, enthusiasm, and expertise we have discovered and host a series of events beginning in early 2027. Look out for announcements in the coming weeks on our LinkedIn profiles and via railway membership organisations and media.”
Ian Puckrin, Route Infrastructure Engineer – North and East Route Network Rail, reflected:
“Continuous improvement is essential in order to deliver a safe, reliable railway which is fit for the future.
“Harnessing innovation at all levels is so important, collaboration between SME’s and traditional rail sectors will allow us to implement small improvements over a large asset base, which will make the difference in terms of the passenger experience throughout the North and East Route.”
The ‘Critical Success Factors to Embedding Innovation in UK Rail’ white paper is now available to download here. Abi and Amy invite further conversations and look forward to hosting series of events covering each of the critical success factors in 2027.