Case study: Rail Delivery Group CBO HOPS

The challenge

Rail Delivery Group (RDG) is made up of all the UK’s passenger and freight rail companies, as well as Network Rail and HS2. It provides services and support so its members can transform and deliver a successful railway.

RDG’s Central Back Office (CBO) is a shared service that supports the use of ITSO-based smart ticketing across multiple service operators’ routes. HOPS are core components of the CBO, processing transaction data from smartcard product purchases and journey validations along with data from hardware terminals.

RDG’s CBO infrastructure had a HOPS set that included:

• The RDG Central HOPS, handling RDG products
• Multiple live single-tenant Train Operating Company (TOC) HOPS, which each supported the relevant TOC’s shells and devices

RDG wanted Unicard to provide an innovative solution to replace its HOPS infrastructure. It had concluded that its existing HOPS solution was not suited to the future demands of the industry, so it wanted a replacement that was secure, scalable, robust, resilient and reliable.

Project requirements

RDG required the replacement of its existing HOPS architecture with a more robust, futureproof and economic solution, including the migration of all existing data, cards and OIDs.

The move to a new HOPS solution was to be carried out in three phases:

1. Replacement of its existing HOPS set
2. Designing and building RDG’s additional requirements into the replacement HOPS
3. Providing ongoing support, maintenance and development for the new HOPS

RDG made clear that it was seeking innovative solutions to improve the effectiveness and cost efficiency of its current architecture, but the primary objective of the HOPS procurement was to ensure a continued CBO ITSO service, with a low-risk transition and no disruption to service.

Project solution

Unicard’s HOPS solution – a cloud-hosted, multi-tenanted platform – was the first of its kind in the rail sector. Used by multiple TOCs, it is secure, scalable and supports multi-modal ticketing across rail and other forms of public transport.

The multi-tenanted HOPS allows RDG and the TOCs to streamline the processing of smart rail tickets, monitor travel patterns and reduce costs.

Unicard’s solution consolidated the HOPS of multiple TOCs onto a centralised system, with scalability built in to accommodate the future growth expected from changes required by the transition to Great British Railways (GBR) – the new government body that will help organise the operation of train services across Britain.

The interoperable system provides RDG and the TOCs with a flexible, scalable cloud infrastructure that will manage and process all ITSO-accredited smart ticket products, transactions and passenger journeys.

Key outcomes

In March 2024, RDG completed the back-office migration to the Unicard HOPS solution that will support smart ticketing for all train operators in Britain.

The innovative solution offered by Unicard, supported by the Ecebs Remote Ticket Download service developed by the team at our East Kilbride office, is a highly resilient system with transaction processing and reporting capabilities. It is a cloud-based platform that supports smart-ticketing solutions for multiple train operators rather than a traditionally hosted back office. It is more energy-efficient, with most of the power used being renewable, and is the first of its kind in the rail sector.

The new system allows operators to streamline the processing of smart tickets and transactions, and monitor passenger journeys and customer behaviour.

The Unicard HOPS is a centralised system, instead of the traditional on-premises data centre that had 16 individual back offices for each train operator. The single, multi-tenanted HOPS makes it quicker and easier to set up configurations, onboard new train operators, and track smart ticket data and transactions.

The new HOPS is designed to be more efficient and auto-scalable, which means it can handle the increased workload during peak times and deliver a more reliable smart ticketing infrastructure for customers travelling on the network. With scalability built in, train operators are better equipped to accommodate future growth and the customer shift to digital ticketing. It is also futureproofed for third-party retailing and mobile-based ticketing.

This standardised solution also offers security advantages from tracking smart ticketing data and transactions, providing full visibility of all activities via a single user interface, helping the industry tackle fraud on the rail network.

The project has pushed Unicard to set new company milestones in terms of the number of TOCs migrated and the amount of data imported. This includes:

• More than 30 TOCs migrated, 28 of those within 2023 alone
• 500GB of data imported into the Staging Environment
• 8TB of data imported into the Live Environment

Sean Dickinson, CEO of Unicard, said: “The migration to a cloud-based HOPS marks a significant milestone in our ongoing relationship with RDG to modernise the GB rail sector’s smart ticketing infrastructure. We’re looking forward to working closely with RDG, train operators, and other ticketing providers to improve service delivery and the passenger experience.

“Unicard’s heritage in ITSO and working with transport operators and local authorities throughout the UK will allow us to support a more joined-up approach to public transport across rail and multi-modal services. As well as the ability to make continuous improvements to the passenger experience of ITSO ticketing. Unicard supports RDG’s commitment to driving innovation, creating a set of common standards and making rail travel easier.”

Customer background

Rail Delivery Group is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2.

They provide services and support to enable members to transform and deliver a successful railway, benefiting customers, taxpayers and the economy.