KeTech: Bridging data silos to improve journeys

February 10, 2025 Industrial News

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With staff drawn from across all areas of the rail industry, KeTech is an innovative technology company with a deep pool of expertise and experience, real-time data, software, and electronics both on the wayside, and on-train systems.

Rail Engineer caught up with and Sales Director Paul Warren and Technical Consultant Graham Cooke to discuss the company’s Universal Information System (UIS) which directly increases connectivity of the rail environment, removing duplicate information while enhancing the customer experience.

Can you tell us more about UIS?

UIS is truly unique, we believe it is the only system in the UK rail industry that harnesses technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Providing unlimited data processing, cloud hosted environment, and advanced analytics to provide a whole new level of ‘connectedness’ and automation.

The system was developed to create digital railways, integrating systems and streamlining operations and customer experience by strengthening the technology architecture. UIS removes the barrier of siloed systems, allowing disparate parts of the railway to talk to each other, share data, and create information, unlocking a system’s full potential.

UIS connects individual components, sensors, and third-party systems. It processes the data, and provides intelligent outcomes, resulting in lower operational costs and next level customer experience. It unlocks the potential of what individual systems can do in isolation, connecting them to reach full functionality.

It is a modular system and our client’s use of it depends on their requirements. For example, with a Customer Information System (CIS) such as a push and post system at a station, the rail network has very detailed operational requirements and operators may need to interact with the system to create, enhance, and update information for their passengers. On the flipside, some operators might require a very light-touch system, where the system works automatically (based upon data inputs from other systems) and they only want to change and update information notices, or adverts. We can provide both, or anything in between, with the exceptional level of flexibility of our UIS.

So how does UIS improve the passenger experience?

It’s about making the most of the data that’s available. Traditionally, information has been siloed. Station-based information was only available to stations, while information on the train was processed on the train. The whole idea of UIS is to join all of that up so the data can be shared among all those different environments.

The core purpose of the system is to get more reliable data and display that in a more consistent and accurate manner. Not only is this useful for passengers and rail staff, but it’s also valuable from a branding perspective. Traditionally, the many different ways that data is presented throughout a journey has created confusion for passengers, particularly those who don’t travel very often.

Think about when you travel by train and some of the small things that can cause an issue. If you get on a train 10 minutes before departure, you can often be unsure about whether you’re actually on the right train. But if the information on the platform matches with the system inside the train, displaying what the calling pattern and the destination is, it gives you confidence you’re in the right place.

KeTech’s UIS does this automatically, without the operator, train guard or driver having to do anything at all, and that makes all the difference to the passenger experience. The passenger gets confirming information at a glance/by announcements on-board. They don’t have to find a member of staff, log into an app, or go on to social media to find out what’s happening. The information is right there and it is consistent with what they’ve seen on the platform.

UIS is all about efficiency, improving the quality of information available, using the same data, producing consistent messaging. UIS improves accuracy and the way it’s presented. The system adapts to any situation in real-time and only provides information where it’s relevant and when it’s needed. That’s key to improving the passenger experience.

Cyber security is a major concern for the rail industry. How is UIS protected?

Cyber security is huge for everyone and it’s something KeTech has heavily invested in. We always design our systems with security in mind and even our development tools have cybersecurity capabilities built in. It’s no good testing a system for security at the end of its development. By that point it will leak like a sieve.

Cybersecurity is a hot topic for our board and, as the threat that is constantly evolving, it is considered at each monthly board meeting. We’re also ISO 27001 accredited, and we were one of the first companies to be accredited to the new 2022 standard. We’re constantly looking ahead in terms of both processes and technologies as far as cybersecurity is concerned.

Ensuring robust cybersecurity is a combined effort. Our product covers trains, stations, infrastructure, and we take a cooperative approach alongside the IT teams of every company we work with. Fundamentally, our systems must be secure and we invest a great deal of resources into ensuring that. We simply have to.

Sustainability is also a key issue. How do your systems aid the industry’s efforts in this area?

A very good example to demonstrate how seriously we take environmental issues is the project that we’re working on with Siemens as it upgrades East Midlands Railway’s (EMR) Class 360s on the St. Pancras to Luton Airport route. The issue here was the existing legacy Passenger Information System (PIS) wasn’t capable of meeting today’s ever evolving customer expectations and required an upgrade.

Siemens could have replaced it with a whole new system, but this would have come at a much greater cost and would require the removal and disposal of a lot of equipment.

KeTech was able to survey the trains and decided that some equipment was serviceable and can be re-used. Essentially, we’re updating the brains of the system so that it will work with the existing and new equipment. This is where our well-rounded capabilities in both software and electronics design and manufacturing come in best.

This is great from a sustainability point of view as we’re re-using rather than replacing. We call it ‘wrap and embrace’ rather than ‘rip and replace’. Without using the UIS system, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve that. We’re breathing new life into the system with real-time information that EMR can use to improve the customer experience.

The beauty of UIS is that the intelligence is in the software and sits at the heart of the system. We may need to design some new components for the system to be real-time data driven and future ready. This is where KeTech’s capability is unique, our blend of expertise in electronics and deep software skills allow us to breathe new life into old systems.

How widely are KeTech’s systems used throughout the industry, and what sets you apart from your competitors?

We have been focusing on rail information systems for over 25 years now and while we’re a relatively small business, we achieve a lot more than might be expected of a business our size. Around 1.3 billion UK customer journeys a year are serviced by our systems, which is quite incredible; this is over 80% of passenger journeys made in the UK every year serviced by KeTech. Somewhere around 50% of train operators in the UK use KeTech systems, and nearly half of the London underground lines.

Northern Trains, for instance, uses our UIS to control and deliver information to over 470 of its stations. That’s visual and PA information, simultaneously in real-time.

Another example is the Elizabeth Line where we provided Driver Only Operated CCTV. Here we integrated into the train management system of the Alstom trains and CCTV equipment on over 110 platforms to enable a safe and smart method of departure. That was the newest and largest project in the UK in terms of scale.

Nobody else does everything we do, we tend to find that we have pockets of competition in specific areas, but not the breadth of capability. We have unique knowledge and experience on both wayside and on-train equipment, from the perspectives of both electronics hardware and software. That means that when we take on a project, we can approach it in a very rounded way for our clients.

We’re constantly educating the ‘art of the possible’ when it comes to applying new technologies to increase operational efficiency, enhance the customer experience, and make travelling by rail that little bit better. It’s about making the possibilities real, making this applicable to the customer, and adding value in a practical manner.

Everything that we do is supported, and that’s another differentiator. Our clients typically have a 24/7 support agreement. That might seem fairly standard, but you’d be surprised how many of our competitors don’t provide this.

We are actually based here in the UK too – our service hub at our Preston HQ provides a UK-based service for our clients, which is quicker and more sustainable than our competitors that are typically based overseas.

It also allows us to be available to meet and support our clients across the rail industry.