Rail Passengers Hit Record Numbers

It was reported recently by the FT that passenger numbers on Britain’s railways have increased sharply in the past six months. According to research by the Rail Delivery Group, the UK experienced the highest growth in demand across the continent compared to other European countries.

The figures point to rail passengers taking more than 140,000 additional journeys per day in the first six months of 2014. This is good news for Train Operating Companies (TOCs) as it will mean higher revenues compared to previous years and points to a significant increase in demand for rail travel in the UK.

In terms of technology and infrastructure, it will be interesting to see how investment in these areas is affected by this increase in revenue. Investing in technology has the ability to offer a ROI and open up new revenue streams, meaning that long run profits will also improve, and not just be maximised in the short-to-medium term.

This is a great opportunity for TOCs to ensure that they are investing in improving their customers’ experience and safeguarding profits while rail travel is firmly in the public spotlight.

Intelligently deployed technology has the ability to simultaneously manage stock and replenish items at the click of a button, also allowing the operator to quickly take payment in a customer friendly and PCI compliant manner. This is crucial to maximising revenue and improving customer experience. Solutions which benefit both the customer and operator will become increasingly more popular as TOCs look to future proof their on-board offering through the use of technology.