Northern’s passenger WiFi service works by utilising the available cellular capacity in the geographical areas its trains pass through, to deliver data to those on board.
With over 340 trains travelling on its network, and an average of more than half a million users connecting to its WiFi every month, data usage (and, in turn, costs) could quickly begin to add up. What’s more, this data expenditure was largely outside the transport operator’s control, given that the provision of WiFi to rail passengers is mandated in the UK.
Snowballing data usage
Pre-pandemic, Northern was expecting to quadruple its data spend because of ballooning usage. When COVID-19 hit and lockdowns were enforced, Northern saw a sharp wind-down in data use; however, as lockdowns eased in the summer of 2021, and passengers began to return to public transport, data consumption started to rise steadily again.
“Northern was able to configure WiFi usage rules using a web-based graphical interface integrated within ICONIC, Icomera’s cloud-based monitoring software tools. Data traffic streams could be prioritised, throttled, or blocked depending on their level of importance, to better manage data usage and costs.”
Northern also noticed a shift in how its passengers were using the onboard WiFi service; more and more passengers were travelling for leisure, while the shift to hybrid working meant that business travellers were seeking to use the onboard WiFi network in different ways (e.g. for video conferencing).
Delivering a high-quality WiFi service was therefore more vital than ever for overall passenger satisfaction levels in the ‘new normal’; however, due to the finite bandwidth available from cellular networks, the onboard WiFi connection could quickly become ‘clogged up’ when large numbers of Northern’s passengers were seeking to use the service simultaneously. This could result in a less than optimal WiFi experience for its travellers, if left unchecked.
Given the substantial amount of data that it handles and the rising associated costs, Northern sought a solution which would allow it to control and mitigate its data spend, while still being able to offer the best possible experience for its passengers connecting to the onboard WiFi.
Enabling the modern railway
To help address these two aims, Icomera deployed its IcoShape solution as part of a competitive trial. By categorising network traffic, IcoShape allowed Northern to gain a deeper understanding of how data was being used, and to take the appropriate action. It was possible to monitor and analyse whether data spend was coming from passenger services or from operational systems, for instance.
Northern was able to configure WiFi usage rules using a web-based graphical interface integrated within ICONIC, Icomera’s cloud-based monitoring software tools. Data traffic streams could be prioritised, throttled, or blocked depending on their level of importance, to better manage data usage and costs. For example, traffic for critical onboard systems such as digital video surveillance or real-time journey information could be prioritised, while still delivering the best possible WiFi for Northern’s passengers.
The deployment resulted in no detrimental impact to passenger satisfaction levels; in fact, Northern saw an improvement in the overall passenger experience because it could provide a fairer, more reliable WiFi service for all (as opposed to a small number of passengers ‘hogging’ the available bandwidth).
Northern experienced a tenfold return-on-investment using IcoShape, as well as achieving an average 20% reduction in its data consumption.
“IcoShape has allowed us not only to better maintain our cost portfolio, but also to increase the customer benefit through delivering a more reliable WiFi service across our network,” said Marc Silverwood, digital trains project manager, Northern.
As a result of the trial’s success, Northern selected Icomera to rollout IcoShape fleet-wide; this was a simple task given that Icomera’s connectivity solution allows for over-the-air deployment, in the click of a button.
“Northern continues to be one of the UK’s most forward-thinking rail operators. We’re thrilled that, thanks to our close working relationship, it has been able to reap the rewards of being an early adopter of innovative Icomera solutions, such as IcoShape,” said Peter Kingsland, SVP UK, Australia & Asia, Icomera.
Icomera continues to work closely with Northern to leverage IcoShape’s different use-cases, and to align the tool’s feature roadmap to the transport operator’s business goals.
