Why the rail sector's cloud journey offers real opportunities

The rail industry has been evolving steadily, driven by the need to modernise infrastructure, embrace digital technologies, and focus on sustainability. Operators have made real progress adopting greener technologies and upgrading legacy systems to enhance the passenger experience through solutions such as smart ticketing and real-time data acquisition.

As we look ahead to a new and more holistic railway structure, we need to continue managing large legacy or proprietary systems while adopting a Cloud-First approach, integrating these systems into a more manageable and supportable infrastructure. This is a major challenge but presents real opportunities for the industry and its customers. Rail operators and the supporting supply chain will be able to achieve greater scalability and efficiency, making the move to the cloud a worthwhile step forward for the entire rail sector, as well as complimentary transport modes.

Managing multiple service providers

One of the toughest issues is dealing with multiple service providers, each handling different parts of the network or system. Dealing with many moving parts, all with different agendas can slow down transformation making it harder to modernise. Without a clear and joined-up strategy, shifting to the cloud can feel disconnected, which makes full integration difficult, especially where safety-critical systems are involved.

Cost is another significant factor. With increasingly tight budgets, the sector faces the challenge of maintaining existing systems while investing in modernisation. Although the upfront costs of cloud migration may seem high, when executed properly, they lead to long-term savings and efficiency gains, making it a worthwhile investment.

Why service improvement plans fall short

Many rail companies have launched service improvement plans, but not all have delivered the expected results. Fragmented contracts and a lack of accountability make it difficult to align everyone toward shared goals. Without clear KPIs and SLAs, measuring progress becomes a challenge, especially when it involves safety performance.

Frequent changes in project scope create further difficulties. When expectations shift, it often leads to confusion, slowing down cloud adoption. Additionally, older service models don’t always support the innovation required to fully take advantage of cloud technology. Many current service credit regimes are not suited to modern cloud operations, as they often fail to drive innovation, efficiency, or foster the strong partnerships needed for effective and long-term cloud management.

Building better service models

So, what’s the way forward? We believe the solution lies in developing a seamless service model that’s built around the needs of the organisation and its customers, not just what service providers offer as standard. This means improving service ownership, creating greater cost transparency, and building genuine partnerships with providers that share aligned objectives.

A well-planned cloud strategy, tailored to the needs of rail operations, will improve performance, enhance safety, provide clearer cost transparency, and make it easier to meet modern transport demands. Strong relationships with service providers will also be key in getting the most from cloud systems and improving service delivery.

Cloud adoption and service management will provide a significant leap forward for the rail sector. With the right approach, operators can fully leverage the cloud to improve efficiency, resilience, and safety for both rail users and maintainers.

Up next: How cloud adoption improves rail safety?

In the next rail blog, we’ll focus on one of the most important benefits enabled and accelerated by the adoption of a cloud first strategy - how it helps improve safety. We’ll explain how cloud-based systems allow rail operators to monitor safety in real time, predict maintenance needs, and respond quickly to incidents. 

Why CGI?

We work with transport operators across the globe to tackle complex challenges like cloud migration, data management, and operational efficiency. With our expertise in the rail sector and a history of delivering results, we understand the unique needs of rail. We can help support your cloud strategy, not only to address current challenges but to set your operations up for long-term success.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can support your cloud journey in the rail sector, please contact me.