Why collaboration is the key for seamless rail travel

Looking around at the various projects worldwide, we observe that more and more rail infrastructure owners are already recognizing the advantages of new models of cooperation with the industry, such as Early Contractor’s Involvement or Alliancing, and imporving transparency through “Open books.” The world is progressing, and this paradigm shift has already begun. That's a fact. However, there are infrastructure owners who still see themselves as the final customer for the rail industry sector. This often leads to low quality, limiting the room for innovations and optimizations, which ultimately results in travel nightmares, insecurities, or even accidents. In fact, infrastructure owners are the messengers serving the final customer - the passengers, all of us.

But let me tell you a story.?

Back in 2023 I was at a quite large?railway exhibition and - as it is on such events - I was impressed with number of rail innovations and amazed by the endless possibilities of public rail transportation. As I’m personally very passionate about modern railway technologies, I get so inspired with the current technological?development, let’s say: very uplifted.

But what happened next on my way back?from that exhibition, has set my positive experience to a test.

When I left the venue, I took a tram to reach my commuter train station from which I supposed to get the airport train.

Actually it was quite smooth until I got to the transfer station to get to the airport. When I arrived there, I became a bit confused because I couldn’t find any navigation signs, guidelines, markings, screens, nothing - just stairs. I follow these stairs and? I found myself in a gym connected to that transport hub. The gym’s staff, wasn’t?surprised at all, confirming the lack of communication between?rail operators and the city. Luckily, those guys were so kind to guide me to the right?direction. But that’s not all.

Once I’ve reached the platforms hallway, I?attempted to buy a separate airport ticket at the connecting station (yes - ticket I did get for previous train was not valid for the airport train).

However, the ticket machine lacked destination called: “Airport” or equivalent in a local language. Moreover fellow travelers'?advice added to the confusion. One lady said that the airport isn’t named as the Airport, but?as an original name of the municipality that the airport is located, so if you’re?not local, you’re lost...

Another person told me that there should be another ticket machine at the other side of the station - only for the airport train tickets. Indeed, there was one, but perfectly hided somewhere in a corner (probably the cheapest spot to place it there). Anyway, the machine was out of service, so I had to run after the train hoping to get the ticket onboard. Unfortunately train has just left and the next one expected in 50 minutes.

A taxi became the best choice. In a first second I was a little disappointed with that situation, but in the second after I looked at it as on an urgent call for help.

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This yet challenging experience learned me about the importance of seeing customer first, collaboration, involvement and integration. Issues like coordination lapses, naming uncertainties, and ticketing inconsistencies showed me the need for cohesive teamwork in creating a dependable and sustainable public?rail transit system.

Reliable and sustainable public rail transportation requires collective effort. Only when we work together, we pave the way for seamless journeys, transforming our dream of efficient rail travel into reality. For all of us.

The moral of this story: Competition makes us faster; Collaboration makes us better.