We’re over way half way through cohort 2 of TfWL. In this time, we’ve seen 11 brilliant start-ups problem solving challenges that are facing Rheilffyrdd Trafnidiaeth Cymru.

Over this 6 week period, start-ups have;

  • Analysed and prioritised challenge areas
  • Identified area’s their specialisms and expertise can be applied
  • Undergone product development workshops
  • Interviewed stakeholders from across TfW about the challenge areas
  • Validated their assumptions with stakeholders
  • Finalised their solutions & created an MVP development plan

Our 11 start-ups are currently working hard on developing their MVP’s. These will be pitched on November 6th at our demo day.

We’re excited to share what everyone is working towards with you below.

Window Seater

Windowseater offers engaging, geo-located content that is relevant to the customers’ journey, attracting people to leisure routes and alleviating boredom along the way by connecting them to the world outside their window.  

Our MVP is audio and text content for the Cardiff Central to Merthyr Tydfil line, and we will measure success by collecting data on customer experience for travellers who have used Windowseater on the line. 

Mae rhagor o wybodaeth ar gael yma: https://windowseater.com/

Spatial Cortex

Manual handling injuries are a major contributor to lost-time injuries in the rail industry. Given that TfW has recently taken over CVL infrastructure, it is crucial that necessary steps are in place to remove and prevent any likely manual handling injuries.  

Staff who carry out tasks trackside, in maintenance and in depots, who carry out lifting, carrying and manipulating materials & tools in awkward postures are likely sufferers. We believe our solution, MOVA, a revolutionary wearable technology, will enable quantitative assessments and provide deeper insights to prevent manual handling injuries while overcoming the drawbacks of current risk-assessment practices.  

As part of MVP validation, we will be testing the risk assessment capabilities of MOVA on a range of complex tasks that involves heavy manual handling on workers as they deliver these tasks. 

Yoello

Yoello is working with the TFW Accelerator to design and implement contactless payment solutions for train operators to provide their customers with easy, efficient and safe methods of purchasing food & drinks from their seats. 

The whitelabel technology uses QR Codes to launch an app-less solution which to provide a streamlined customer experience.”

Route Konnect

Route Konnect is working to solve anonymously counting and tracking passengers at trains and stations for TfWR.  This information can then be provided in real-time to provide live data to the front line and passengers, and allow passengers on trains and stations to make more informed decisions surrounding their travels.   

The MVP being built will include passenger counting, seat occupation detection, as well as checking social distancing and mask compliance between passengers.  This will allow stations to test layout changes to improve passenger flow with real-time information. 

You.Smart.Thing

You. Smart. Thing. are addressing the challenge of providing door-to-door journey planning.

Building on the ‘Travel Assistant’ service, You.SmartThing’s MVP will help Transport for Wales Rail customers make door-to-door journeys by combining their journey preferences, bespoke routings, multi-modal transport data, real-time updates, and by providing customers a personalised rail-optimised journey plan 

Urban CSR

The “InfoWorks Hub” enables real time information exchange and live 2-way communication with passengers possible.   

Providing a duty of care, especially at unmanned stations, therefore ensuring all passengers have the same access to help, information and communication regardless of whether they possess an internet enabled device or not. 

Razor Secure

RazorSecure can provide early indication of cyber attacks, fulfilling a critical requirement in standard cyber security frameworks: detection of and response to attacks. However, we are developing our product to also address the needs of asset management, providing operators with accurate real-time asset information.  

RazorSecure is looking to deploy our solution for a limited basis on-board a TfW train(s) via an existing integration on the Icomera routers that TfW uses for WiFi connectivity. Based on the data we collect here, we’ll be able to demonstrate the current level of cyber threats we see on the networks today and also deploy some of our new asset management technology to assist, in particular, with the identification and tracking of maintenance assets (laptops/tablets) which are in use.  

This would inform TfW as to the value of such a solution when deliver of the new digital train fleet commences, and the potential of the asset management tools to save time and money, and provide improved visibility of a broader set of operational systems. 

Shapes AI

Mae’r canllawiau cadw pellter cymdeithasol yn ein helpu ni i gyd i gadw’n ddiogel rhag COVID-19, ond mae monitro a rheoli cydymffurfiad â’r protocolau hyn wedi bod yn broses anodd, sy’n cymryd llawer o amser ac yn cael ei gwneud â llaw.  

Shapes AI’s MVP produces a ‘Social Distancing Score’ so TfWRail can understand how well passengers and staff are keeping their distance from one another throughout the day, week or month.  

It works by analysing camera feeds with cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning algorithms. 

Wordnerds

Wordnerds AI-powered text analytics solution helps brands to understand the true voice of their customer. Their solutions automates the understanding of language – at scale, and irrespective of vocabulary, sarcasm or the liberal use of emojis 🤓  

Maen nhw’n rhoi’r adnoddau i dimau gwybodaeth i gasglu gwybodaeth y gellir gweithredu arni o’r nifer o sianeli cyfathrebu â chwsmeriaid, er mwyn sicrhau gwelliannau sylweddol ym Mhrofiad Cwsmeriaid.  

Wordnerds are working with CX Teams in TfW to provide a single, holistic view of their customer voice – linking data from social, complaints, surveys and live-network feedback. Using bleeding-edge AI and old-school linguistics, Wordnerds will support the CX team to report meaningful insights to the people it matters most to. 

EMU Analytics

Cloud-based, real-time geospatial data analytics solutions. More info to follow.

Doopoll

Real time polling solution to gather instant results. More info to follow.