Cameron Collie, Worldwide DELMIA Industry Expert, Dassault Systèmes
For decades, the global rail industry has wrestled with fragmented systems, siloed technologies, and complex integration challenges. As one of the world’s most asset-intensive and safety-critical industries, rail depends on a delicate balance of planning, scheduling, operations, and control systems to deliver reliable services. Yet many operators still rely on patchwork solutions stitched together over time, struggling to keep up with modern demands.
Dassault Systèmes believes the answer lies not in piecemeal integration but in true interoperability – an approach it calls integrated rail service delivery. This perspective redefines technology not as a collection of disjointed systems but as a unified, intelligent platform for seamless service delivery.
From Systems Thinking To Rail Transformation
The philosophy of integrated rail service delivery draws on Dr. Russell Ackoff’s work on systems thinking, which outlines three principles:
- A system’s defining properties belong to the whole, not its individual parts.
- If a system is dismantled, it loses its essential properties.
- Improving parts in isolation does not necessarily improve the whole.
Applied to rail, the message is clear.
Optimizing silos such as crew management or fleet planning does not deliver excellence. Reliability, efficiency, and resilience require the entire ecosystem – planning, scheduling, operations, and safety – to function as an interconnected whole.
The Challenge: Moving Away From A Patchwork of Systems
Historically, rail operators built much of their own planning and scheduling software. After World War II, rail declined while air travel and private car ownership surged. With little incentive for IT vendors to create industry-specific solutions, rail companies developed or adapted their own. Over time, these custom systems became entrenched, reinforced by generic tools such as spreadsheets and office software.
The result resembles a “bush mechanic’s car”: functional but inefficient and fragile. In some cases, it is even worse, like the Flintstones’ car, propelled not by an engine but by constant manual effort.
This reliance on fragmented systems forces operators to spend heavily on integration projects that only partially solve the problem. Point-to-point links may connect data, but they do not create the seamless, interdependent processes rail service delivery requires. Interoperability, not just integration, is the missing link.
The Paradigm Shift: From Parts To The Automobile
Dassault Systèmes frames this challenge with a simple analogy: the automobile. Most enterprise systems, from ERP to asset management, can be purchased as complete, integrated packages. In rail, however, planning, scheduling, and operations are often just mismatched parts rather than a finished car.
Integrated rail service delivery is about delivering the automobile, not spare parts. It marks a shift from disconnected systems to a fully integrated, AI-enabled platform spanning the entire rail service lifecycle.
The parallel with consumer technology is striking. Before 2007, professionals carried separate devices – phone, calculator, notepad, music player, camera. The iPhone consolidated them into one, creating a paradigm shift. Dassault Systèmes envisions a similar transformation in rail: a single, unified platform replacing dozens of tools.
How Interoperability Works In Rail
To build the “automobile,” Dassault Systèmes emphasizes three building blocks:
- Assemblies: The core rail segments – above rail, below rail, stations, terminals, yards.
- Sub-assemblies: The subject areas usually managed by siloed systems, such as crew scheduling or fleet maintenance.
- Parts: The individual business capabilities, of which Dassault Systèmes has identified 145 within rail service delivery.
Success depends not only on mapping the parts but on understanding their interactions. Rail operations involve horizontal processes within departments such as timetabling and crewing, as well as vertical processes within time horizons that align subject areas to deliver a viable service.
The COVID-19 pandemic underscored this. When crew availability became the most constrained resource, it determined which fleet types could run, which services were viable, and how much passenger demand could be met. An integrated solution alone might not adapt, but an interoperable system designed around interdependencies can.
Early Adoption And Market Momentum
Although still early, integrated rail service delivery is gaining global traction. Dassault Systèmes introduced the concept at the InnoTrans exhibition in Berlin, where it resonated with rail leaders.
The first adopter was a New Zealand operator in 2021, followed by a South African operator in 2023 through a global tender for a fully integrated solution. Clients in Sweden and Brazil are taking step-by-step approaches, acquiring solutions gradually while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
These implementations serve as proof points, demonstrating both the feasibility and competitive advantage of a unified platform.
Why Integrate Rail Service Delivery Now?
The case for integrated rail service delivery is stronger than ever:
- Rising complexity: Rail networks face demands for efficiency, sustainability, and resilience. Manual processes and siloed systems cannot keep up.
- Technology maturity: Advances in AI, optimization, and simulation – Dassault Systèmes’ strengths – now enable orchestration of interdependent processes at scale.
- Shift in procurement: While tenders still often request siloed systems, operators are beginning to ask for integrated solutions, recognizing the value of the “automobile” over the parts.
Why Dassault Systèmes’ For Integrated Rail Service Delivery?
Dassault Systèmes’ approach reflects decades of rail expertise. Unlike generalist IT vendors, the company has consistently prioritized rail-specific solutions and integrated approaches. Its 3DEXPERIENCE platform-based Quintiq solution has long applied mathematical optimization, simulation, and constraint-based decision support – capabilities essential for managing interdependent rail operations.
Today, the focus extends to standards-based interoperability, ensuring solutions are not only internally connected but also compatible with client environments and future systems. This combination of innovation and rail expertise uniquely positions Dassault Systèmes to lead the shift.
Integrated Rail Service Delivery: Rail Leaders Must Act Now
Integrated rail service delivery is more than a technology framework; it is a strategic response to the industry’s core challenge: delivering reliable, efficient, and safe rail services in an era of rising complexity.
For rail leaders, the choice is clear. Continue patching together siloed systems or embrace a new paradigm of true interoperability. A unified platform unlocks resilience, adapts to shifting constraints, and delivers better outcomes for passengers, freight customers, and society.
Success lies not in superior individual parts, but in how the parts come together.
The rail industry stands at a crossroads. Incremental integration can only go so far. To thrive, operators must think in terms of fully integrated, interoperable systems, not siloed ones. Dassault Systèmes’ vision offers a roadmap: deliver the automobile, not just the parts. By embracing interoperability, powered by AI and decades of rail expertise, the industry can move beyond patchwork solutions toward a resilient, efficient, and passenger-centric future.