The future of rail travel: faster WiFi and mobile ticketing says student report

Rail commuters might one day be able to upgrade their tickets, order groceries and enjoy uninterrupted TV, according to a student report.

Global ICT company CISCO asked six Full-Time MBA students from Imperial College Business School to come up with an innovative business plan designed to transform rail commuter’s experience. The plan would look at how better in-carriage services could increase people’s productivity during their commute and generate sustained revenue for the rail service providers.

The brief was given to them by CISCO as part of the company’s plans for the concept of SWIFT (Superfast WiFi In-carriage for Future Travel) – a new type of trackside fibre technology that CISCO and partners are planning to introduce to rail providers in the near future. The technology is being developed in response to evidence of poor WiFi connectivity on most rail services in the UK, and the need to increase customer satisfaction with reliable, high speed technology.

The MBA students who worked with CISCO for their Consulting Project

The six students came up with a business model designed to monetise the new technology and enhance rail users’ travelling experience.

To formulate their strategy, the team studied the commuting patterns of both business and non-business passengers, analysing what types of in-carriage services were available on rail services at peak and off-peak periods.

They did benchmarking with services provided in other countries such as Germany, Japan and Korea, and applied business tools learned from their MBA classes in strategic problem solving. They also measured the reliability and cost of WiFi and roaming mobile phone services on these journeys to build up a picture of people’s habits during their commute.

The project forms part of the students’ MBA Consulting Project, where students are tasked by an external company to come up with a strategy to solve a real-life business problem.

One of the team members was Andre Kashiwara. He said: “Overall, we concluded that better access to technology on all rail services would enhance customer satisfaction, as both business and non-business commuters were shown to be less active on their journey than they could be.

“We spotted a real opportunity for how business travellers could become more productive – for example if technology could allow them to carry out more of their daily functions on their journey such as conference calls with clients and colleagues.”

The findings of the report will be used by CISCO to help them formulate a plan to roll-out their SWIFT technology with rail providers.

The company says it aims to put the pleasure back into people’s travel and help them become more productive whilst travelling. Future plans being proposed by the company include the ability to purchase and upgrade tickets on the train using a mobile device and better on-board entertainment, with commuters being able to watch the latest movies or TV shows instantly and without interruption.

Other proposals include personalised shopping, where people can order their groceries on their way home and have them ready to collect at their destination station.

This has been the third year that CISCO has worked with Imperial College Business School MBA students. Nick Chrissos, Head of CISCO UK&I Innovation Technology, said: “It was beneficial for the students because they had the opportunity to work with emerging technologies from industrial leaders and get exposure to Cisco Innovation culture, with the potential to shape the future of travelling experience. The students also offered a fresh and diverse view of a business challenge using their advanced analytical skills.”

The Imperial students who took part in the project were: Andre Akira Kashiwara, Alexander Rodriguez-Melo, Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Esraa Al-Naib, Idan Mizrahi and Ramiro de Anda.

You can read more about the CISCO project with the Imperial students in this blog post.