Information management: the key to railways past and future

Information is the key to successful railway performance. Since the first railways ran information was critical to the safe and efficient operation of the railway, with everyone from train drivers, through passengers and station staff, to the railway operators requiring fast and efficient access to information. As technology has developed from telegraphy to modern high speed fibre optic based transmission networks, the trend has been towards acquiring more and more data, often without appropriate regard to translating that data into useful information. Today´s modern control systems, when properly engineered, can offer significant benefits through the fusion of data from multiple sources into one coherent set of information, allowing all users to access the information they require in the format in which they require it. This paper outlines this transition from the viewpoint of one of the most successful suppliers of this technology.