Software careers on the railway

[Gaelan]

Anyone who's ever been on the modern railway can tell that there's a massive amount of software required to keep it running. But it's surprisingly hard to find careers working on this software, as much of it is developed by various contractors, not directly by the TOCs or Network Rail. As such, it seems wise to have a list of companies that employ software developers for the UK rail industry in one place. (This includes jobs outside the UK at companies which supply the UK rail industry.)

Here's what I've found; contributions very welcome!

Traditional "rail industry" employers​

Network Rail has a number of listings categorized as "IT/Software Development", though most of them seem to be more the former than the latter at the moment.
TOCs occasionally have software positions, mostly on the retail side of things.
RDG has some software-adjacent roles, though they tend to be more on the managerial side of things; I suspect most of the actual development is contracted out.
RSSB has some software openings, I think mostly working on their website? There are some "data engineer" positions as well.

Rolling stock manufacturers​

Many of these same companies also build signaling systems, I believe.

Alstom has software positions in the UK and many other countries.
CAF has some software positions, mostly in Spain. The listings are largely in Spanish, so I imagine the workplace mostly is too.
Hitachi has a fair number of software positions, seemingly in every country but the UK. There aren't any obvious software positions within the UK at the moment.
Siemens does too, mostly in Germany, Spain, and Australia but occasionally in the UK.
Stadler has a number of software positions mostly in Switzerland and Germany, but none in the UK.
Wabtec has software positions, mostly in Germany and the USA.

Ticket retailers & apps​

Railboard is a mobile departure board app (which also now sells tickets through Trainsplit), has a careers page (but no current vacancies).
Raileasy runs Trainsplit, the ticket retailer we all know and love. They occasionally have vacancies, currently an Android developer.
RealTimeTrains occasionally has vacancies.
Trainline, the ticket retailer we all know, has several software positions.

Railway-specific software firms​

These are software/technology firms who primarily cater to the railway (or transport) industries.
3Squared makes a variety of railway software, mostly on the planning/management side of things.
Fabrik (specifically their Digital division) does passenger information, timetables, etc. I can't find a careers page; I suspect they're small enough they hire only rarely.
Flowbird does ticketing stuff - their website focusses on contactless ticketing but I think their UK business is primarily TVMs. (Thanks @Geeves!)
Hacon develops ticketing systems mostly used on the European continent, but their journey planning engine is apparently also used by Trainline in the UK. All their positions are in Germany (Berlin or Hannover).
Infotec do a lot of CIS hardware and software installation at stations. (Thanks @Horizon22!) Acquired in January 2023 by Journeo, who primarily do tech on busses (both on-board and PIS at stations). For now, they seem to be operating mostly independently, but that may well change soon.
Kadfire is a "creative agency" that makes signage, both static information and dynamic departure-board type things. Again, no careers page I can find.
Ketech does on-train and at-station customer information, as well as some in-cab information for drivers and cameras for DOO. (Thanks @Geeves!)
Nexus Alpha makes Arrakis, formerly Tyrell, which provides information to station staff, especially during disruption. They also make JourneyCheck.
Televic makes passenger information systems, with careers in Belgium and Germany.
Tracsis builds software for, among other things, ticketing, timetabling/diagramming, and Delay Repay. Wide variety of technologies (up to and including Haskell!), in a number of UK cities or remote.
TrainFX makes passenger information systems. Can't find a careers page.
Resonate seems to work primarily on "traffic management" and signaling software, with their roots in BR Research. (Thanks @rower40!)
Signature Rail makes timetabling/scheduling software.
Vix does some ticketing stuff (among other things, they seem to operate keyGo and issue tickets for LNER's website), as well as bus tracking and passenger information at bus shelters.

Large software contractors​

These are software/technology firms who work in a number of sectors, of which rail is one. Many are also defense contractors, which (at least for me) isn't exactly something I want in an employer.

Atos and Worldline, through a series of mergers and splits, hold the remains of British Rail's IT department. I think the railway bits ended up with Worldline, but it's not entirely clear. While both are hiring a large number of software positions, neither seems to think it's relevant to list in the job description what software the employee would be working on. (Thanks to several commenters for helping to illuminate the current situation here!)
CACI is a large software firm that builds, among many other things, real-time performance data systems for the railway. There doesn't seem to be a way to find railway jobs specifically.
Cubic (USA, elsewhere) builds ticketing/smartcard solutions for many cities around the world, notably London.
Thales works on a number of rail-related systems, including signaling. Many software positions in the UK and elsewhere.

 

[66789]

Worldline has a substantial stake in Train Planning software (with VoyagerPlan), on-station departure boards, and announcement systems (https://tiger.worldline.global/home).

 

[Gaelan]

Worldline has a substantial stake in Train Planning software (with VoyagerPlan), on-station departure boards, and announcement systems (https://tiger.worldline.global/home).

Good to know, thanks! Shame it's entirely impossible to tell which of their jobs are railway-related. (Or they're not currently hiring railway positions, or they're listed on some other careers website separate from the main one? Who knows!)

Incidentally, do you know what the current relationship between Atos and Worldline is? They seem to have been the same company at some point in the past - do they both separately do railway things now?

 

[RailAleFan]

I feel like the day I left the UK railway industry was the last day a line of code was ever written internally!

 

[Gaelan]

I feel like the day I left the UK railway industry was the last day a line of code was ever written internally!

Sure seems like it. Damn shame.

 

[Horizon22]

Infotec also do a lot of CIS hardware & software installation at stations

 

[Gaelan]

Infotec also do a lot of CIS hardware & software installation at stations

Thanks!

 

[RailAleFan]

.

 

[D821]

What sort of languages are manufacturers using for system development nowadays, is Ada still used for the safety critical stuff?

 

[3270]

There are still quite a few ex-British Rail IT staff working at Worldline and Atos. The history is mentioned here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sema_Group
Basically the IT function of British Rail (BRBS - British Rail Business Systems) was privatised in 1997 and sold to Sema Group. Sema was later bought by Schlumberger but they subsequently sold it on to Atos Origin which along the way changed its name to Atos then a few years ago Worldline was carved out of Atos. Worldline are involved with the development and support of TOPS, TRUST, TSIA, Palladin, Web Gemini, R2, Rolling Stock Library, Genius, Integrale, VoyagerPlan, CrewPlan, CIS stuff, CIF file distribution, ticketing / fares stuff, Orcats etc. plus lots of behind the scenes interfaces to glue it all together.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

I'd avoid Worldline. So would most of the TOCs if they could, but they don't make it easy to, particularly when they're responsible for a very large amount of critical solutions for a very large number of staff. Cubic is another firm who have taken financial advantage of their monopolistic position, even knowing what that does to their reputation, within certain aspects of rail, but the market is evolving, and certainly not in their favour.

The winds are changing, however, and giant, long standing companies supplying rail won't dominate forever, especially as TOCs and GBR look to do more development themselves or via partners.

In my experience, the most interesting, innovative and exciting software houses supplying the industry are the ones carrying on very quietly under the radar, building small, but critical components for wider solutions. They then find themselves eventually getting acquired or merging. You'll only find these unicorns through very meticulous research or recommendations.

No matter who your employer, as a developer you would be bound almost certainly to very regular interaction and engagement with most of the above! For systems that don't seem to be very well joined up, there's much more going on behind the scenes, just not especially effectively in some cases.

 

[Horizon22]

There are still quite a few ex-British Rail IT staff working at Worldline and Atos. The history is mentioned here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sema_Group
Basically the IT function of British Rail (BRBS - British Rail Business Systems) was privatised in 1997 and sold to Sema Group. Sema was later bought by Schlumberger but they subsequently sold it on to Atos Origin which along the way changed its name to Atos then a few years ago Worldline was carved out of Atos. Worldline are involved with the development and support of TOPS, TRUST, TSIA, Palladin, Web Gemini, R2, Rolling Stock Library, Genius, Integrale, VoyagerPlan, CrewPlan, CIS stuff, CIF file distribution, ticketing / fares stuff, Orcats etc. plus lots of behind the scenes interfaces to glue it all together.

Yes Wordline are a huge player in the railway tools, systems and applications for any TOC and NR.

 

[WAB]

Wordline get away with neglecting their train planning software, but Hacon's TPS and Tracsis' ATTUne show the direction of travel. It is scandalous though that there is almost no internal capacity for such things. From signals to gatelines to software solutions, the railways have been cornered by certain firms and it's very difficult to unseat them.

 

[Horizon22]

Wordline get away with neglecting their train planning software, but Hacon's TPS and Tracsis' ATTUne show the direction of travel. It is scandalous though that there is almost no internal capacity for such things. From signals to gatelines to software solutions, the railways have been cornered by certain firms and it's very difficult to unseat them.

And often these systems are thrust upon staff with some training but quickly identify bugs and features that don't quite work how someone using them day-in-day-out would actually use them.

That being said, I'm sure a genuinely innovative product which was affordable (cost will be a big one these days!) but could still maintain ssome imilar functionality to railway users would be attractive.

 

[The Planner]

Wordline get away with neglecting their train planning software, but Hacon's TPS and Tracsis' ATTUne show the direction of travel. It is scandalous though that there is almost no internal capacity for such things. From signals to gatelines to software solutions, the railways have been cornered by certain firms and it's very difficult to unseat them.

Trainplan before TPS wasnt an internal system either. Not sure PROTIM before that was either.

 

[Gaelan]

Added Vix:

Vix does some ticketing stuff (among other things, they seem to operate keyGo and issue tickets for LNER's website), as well as bus tracking and passenger information at bus shelters.

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

I wouldn't recommend entering into employment with any company whose core business is supplying the UK rail market at the moment.

Firstly, the current industrial relations issue means that the introduction of new or novel technology is likely to be problematic and no TOC is going to want to pour fuel on the fire by introducing anything especially new at the moment. I'd be surprised if any operator even has the management/ project resources available.

Second, the GB Railways concept is potentially fatal to many of these businesses who don't have much alternative product or sector diversity. If GBR ever actually takes off properly, there will likely be central procurement (or development) of software. Given one of the main GBR objectives is consistency, (and cost reduction), it would seem reasonable to assume that there will be a significant reduction in the number of different systems being used. A supplier overly dependent on UK rail will probably either hit the jackpot and do extremely well, or lose everything. I genuinely believe some of the more established suppliers are in for a kicking in the coming months, as the gravy train quite literally comes to an abrupt stop.

 

[Horizon22]

I wouldn't recommend entering into employment with any company whose core business is supplying the UK rail market at the moment.

Firstly, the current industrial relations issue means that the introduction of new or novel technology is likely to be problematic and no TOC is going to want to pour fuel on the fire by introducing anything especially new at the moment. I'd be surprised if any operator even has the management/ project resources available.

Second, the GB Railways concept is potentially fatal to many of these businesses who don't have much alternative product or sector diversity. If GBR ever actually takes off properly, there will likely be central procurement (or development) of software. Given one of the main GBR objectives is consistency, (and cost reduction), it would seem reasonable to assume that there will be a significant reduction in the number of different systems being used. A supplier overly dependent on UK rail will probably either hit the jackpot and do extremely well, or lose everything. I genuinely believe some of the more established suppliers are in for a kicking in the coming months, as the gravy train quite literally comes to an abrupt stop.

On your first point, that probably wouldn’t affect the company - they’d have a contract to provide the product and even if there were issues with implementation it wouldn’t be their probably; if anything it could provide extra revenue to make minor tweaks to whichever system outside of the contract they had.

Your second point has more merit although I sincerely doubt GBR will take everything in house - it’s not going to be panacea for everything that some people think it will be.

 

[rower40]

Resonate in Derby and Milton Keynes are actively recruiting. Doesn’t get much more “railway” than the rump of BR Research who brought you, among others, APTIS and PORTIS ticketing, Solid State Interlocking (SSI), CCF, Automatic Route Setting, Vampire vehicle modelling, CATE (Computer assisted timetable enquiry), and many many more. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone’s pet projects.
Resonate’s “Luminate” traffic management up and running on Anglia and Great Western, after millions spent on competing products from the big hitters that got nowhere. See Roger Ford’s Informed Sources for the full story.

 

[Gaelan]

Resonate in Derby and Milton Keynes are actively recruiting. Doesn’t get much more “railway” than the rump of BR Research who brought you, among others, APTIS and PORTIS ticketing, Solid State Interlocking (SSI), CCF, Automatic Route Setting, Vampire vehicle modelling, CATE (Computer assisted timetable enquiry), and many many more. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone’s pet projects.
Resonate’s “Luminate” traffic management up and running on Anglia and Great Western, after millions spent on competing products from the big hitters that got nowhere. See Roger Ford’s Informed Sources for the full story.

Thanks! Looks like they do some cool work.

 

[Geeves]

A couple that we use at Northern are

Flowbird - Ticket machine OS and machines themselves
Ketech - CIS and automatic announcements

 

[Gaelan]

A couple that we use at Northern are

Flowbird - Ticket machine OS and machines themselves
Ketech - CIS and automatic announcements

Thanks!

 

[36270k]

Voyagerplan's predecessor PROTIM was written by 1 talented individual in York in the Late 1980's
At the time the central BR IT systems were based in Nottingham.
Even by the standards of the time, a lot of the software produced by BR Nottingham was very poor.

 

[WAB]

I wouldn't recommend entering into employment with any company whose core business is supplying the UK rail market at the moment.

Firstly, the current industrial relations issue means that the introduction of new or novel technology is likely to be problematic and no TOC is going to want to pour fuel on the fire by introducing anything especially new at the moment. I'd be surprised if any operator even has the management/ project resources available.

Second, the GB Railways concept is potentially fatal to many of these businesses who don't have much alternative product or sector diversity. If GBR ever actually takes off properly, there will likely be central procurement (or development) of software. Given one of the main GBR objectives is consistency, (and cost reduction), it would seem reasonable to assume that there will be a significant reduction in the number of different systems being used. A supplier overly dependent on UK rail will probably either hit the jackpot and do extremely well, or lose everything. I genuinely believe some of the more established suppliers are in for a kicking in the coming months, as the gravy train quite literally comes to an abrupt stop.

I don't quite think it is going to be quite that bad. There is a lot of tech developments out there which won't rile up traincrew, signallers, and depot staff who seem to be the main industrial action risks. For example, NR and the TOCs would bite your arm off if you could offer a more automated train planning system to replace what is still a ridiculously-manual process (particularly if you could offer headcount reductions). And I think it's unlikely that there'll be industry-wide centralisation; perhaps by region instead?