Reducing stress for passengers and making surfaces less slippery in wet or cold weather are two challenges being targeted by UK companies.

Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for transport, the built environment, cities and local growth, announced today that eight technology companies have been selected to develop new systems for railway interchanges through the Station Innovation Zone at Bristol Temple Meads.

Solutions taken forward for further development help passengers feel more relaxed and in control at rail stations if there is an unexpected change or delay to their service, and help combat condensation on station floors as part of efforts to improve station weather resilience.

Each company will receive £4000 to develop trial plans as part of the Station Innovation Zone – delivered by Connected Places Catapult in partnership with Network Rail, and funded by Innovate UK. Three out of the eight companies will then be selected to test their solutions at Bristol Temple Meads over a period of six months.

The eight companies and their innovations, in each challenge area, are:

Improving the interchange experience

DataWharf is developing a new journey support tool to help passengers using Bristol understand stations, disruptions and onward travel with personalised multilingual guidance; reducing anxiety and supporting those with additional needs.

Katlas is creating a trusted travel wallet to help passengers and station teams co-ordinate real-time assistance when journeys change unexpectedly, by linking navigation data, hardware and verified handovers.

Moonbility is developing a solution that helps passengers at multimodal stations understand connected train and bus services; reducing confusion and improving confidence when disruptions affect onward journeys.

Spoken Ink (trading as Whoosh) is building a new type of station-based travel chatbot that will help passengers to navigate interchanges with clearer updates, personal guidance and reduced anxiety.

XRAI & Ampetronic are developing AI-powered multilingual announcement systems to help railway passengers understand real-time platform changes and travel updates through instant translation, captions and an accessible ‘Auracast’ audio.

Station weather resilience

Purple Transform will deliver SITYE, a unified operational intelligence platform that transforms CCTV, sensor and system data into real-time and predictive insights – forecasting environmental risks, enabling proactive interventions, reducing slip incidents and improving operational resilience.

Quantum Risk Solutions is developing a new type of edge-AI platform that helps station managers foresee slip risks, deploy cleaning earlier, and keep passengers safe without altering infrastructure.

Trace Surveys is building a rugged multi-sensor device to predict and prevent condensation hazards while monitoring noise, vibration and air quality to enhance passenger safety, comfort and operational decisions.

These companies are the fourth cohort of innovators to be welcomed on to the Station Innovation Zone programme, which creates an environment for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to trial technologies with the potential to improve the passenger experience or enhance safety. Since 2023, the Station Innovation Zone has supported 25 innovative firms to develop their ideas, with 8 of those undertaking live trials at Bristol Temple Meads. The programme has enabled eight new funding opportunities and three follow-on contracts for SMEs, alongside an official product launch and recognition on the RIA Innovation Award shortlist. It also sparked over 180 follow-on conversations across Network Rail and the wider industry, delivered new insights on sensor data handling, and contributed valuable datasets to the Rail Data Marketplace.

Alan Peters, Rail Director at Connected Places Catapult, said: “The Station Innovation Zone is all about bringing forward new ideas to benefit Network Rail and other rail organisations, whilst supporting high-potential innovators to accelerate towards commercialisation. Applications to take part in the latest round of the Station Innovation Zone did not disappoint: we attracted a range of high-quality innovators with an impressive array of solutions to address challenges faced by railway stations.”

Brian Wortman, Senior Programme Manager at Network Rail, said: “As one of the UK’s largest infrastructure clients, Network Rail recognises the value of supporting home-grown innovators with fresh thinking. We look forward to working closely with SMEs to understand how their innovations can improve passenger confidence and safety.”

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