Case Study: South Western Railway improves train occupancy monitoring with Icomera and Glimpse Analytics

South Western Railway trials AI occupancy monitoring in 2021 with Icomera

South Western Railway (SWR) faced the challenge of improving passenger confidence and ensuring safe social distancing as people returned to public transport following the Covid-19 pandemic. To address this, SWR partnered with vendor Icomera to trial an advanced, software-based AI video analytics solution leveraging Icomera's X-Series wireless connectivity platform and applications hosting capability.

The solution implemented by Icomera, in collaboration with Glimpse Analytics, used existing onboard CCTV cameras and AI to monitor train occupancy in real-time, displaying a RAG (Red/Amber/Green) status to passengers via apps and station screens. This provided passengers with journey certainty and helped them avoid overcrowding. The trial was successfully tested on a bank holiday weekend, which saw the highest passenger numbers since the pandemic began, and delivered considerable operational benefits to SWR, including valuable data for fleet planning and timetabling without requiring additional hardware.

South Western Railway (swr)