Back in December 2024, the Smarter Information, Smarter Journeys Programme (SISJ), jointly led by Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and Network Rail announced the launch of a new range of videos which will make it easier for passengers to plan their journeys. The newly launched Visual Disruption Maps are short videos which give travellers clear information on planned changes to train services and the alternative routes which are available for them to complete their journey.
The videos will be used in stations, on National Rail Enquiries and on the social media accounts of Network Rail, RDG, and Train Operating Companies (TOCs), and include subtitles as well as British Sign Language (BSL) overlay to make them more accessible. Rail Engineer caught up with RDG Chief Delivery Officer Nicole Jennings to find out more.
Thanks for joining us, Nicole. To begin, could you give us a brief overview of the Visual Disruption maps? How do they work and what drove their development?
We know across our industry that our customers value reliability and punctuality, and as an industry we work hard to keep all our services running to schedule, but delays and cancellations can happen for many reasons including planned issues such as engineering works, or other more unpredictable issues such as extreme weather.
Visual Disruption Maps help us to give passengers clear guidance on alternative routes and connections in the case of disruption, and attempt to translate what can be quite complex information into a clear and simple message. Using video makes this easier to understand.
We’ve ensured that this information is available to all by keeping accessibility at the forefront and we’ve worked with industry accessibility groups to ensure that the videos are fully accessible through the use of BSL and subtitles.
Since December 2024, we’ve produced nearly 200 of the videos to help passengers when their journeys have been affected by engineering works or diversionary works that we’re aware of and to help them re-plan their journey. Examples include when Paddington trains were diverted to Euston so that improvements could be made on the Great Western Main Line, and for large-scale events like the Carabao Cup Final, where planned engineering works were taking place.
Where are the videos made and who produces the content? How long does the whole process take?
The videos are produced at the National Rail Communications Centre (NRCC) in Doncaster and it’s quite a unique experience to watch them being put together.
The NRCC already provides disruption information to places like National Rail Enquiries, so we felt they were well placed to create our videos. To ensure consistency, we set up a dedicated studio with a new team, and the studio provides green screen technology, audio, and all that type of thing. The creation of the videos really is a cross-industry collaboration on a day-to-day basis between the NRCC, the relevant TOC, and Network Rail. Both the TOCs and Network Rail are engaged in checking scripts and inspecting the video previews when they are produced.
As mentioned, we’re currently concentrating on planned disruption videos. These are created by the video production teams using a checklist which gives guidance on things like ensuring that the presenter is speaking at an appropriate pace to allow time for the BSL finger spelling. It requires pauses between sections to aid comprehension and uses closed captions, which can be turned off if people don’t want them. As these videos are designed for a wide audience, we need to accommodate different needs and different preferences.
We generally have a lot of lead time with these planned disruption videos. There’s no rush because we’ll know about the planned works many weeks in advance, sometimes months.
We’re looking to begin producing videos for unplanned (on the day) disruption this summer and we’re aiming towards a target of 30 minutes between being made aware of the disruption and getting that information out to customers. We know that customers generally start to become dissatisfied after around 15 minutes of disruption, so it’s really important that we get the videos out as quickly as possible. The challenge will be ensuring that we’re providing accurate information and making it available to everyone in a very tight timeframe.
An initial rollout took place last year – what lessons were learned during that phase, and how did they shape the final videos?
The first set of videos covered the Christmas 2024 engineering works. They were first made live in December 2024, but we filmed them several weeks before that. Since the launch back in December, nearly 200 videos have gone live and we have a further 60 videos for planned disruption currently in production.
During the rollout last December, we got a sense of what was working and what could be improved upon, and since then we’ve continually enhanced the way we produce the videos. We do know that just under 95% of the users during the trial found the videos useful. Eighty-one percent felt more informed about the disruption, and 72% said they would use the videos if they were made available. So, although we’ve continually made improvements as we’ve gone along, we can say that the original trial was very, very successful.
How are you assessing the impact of the videos and their popularity with customers?
At the end of every video, customers are given the opportunity to complete a survey, as well as quarterly customer surveys. These surveys have shown us that customers appreciate how the videos are helping them at times of disruption, that the language used is clear, and that they trust the information presented.
Customers have also noted that they like how the videos “help to cut through the confusion in times of disruption” and that “the visual nature and having a presenter provides a human face and human touch”.
Having someone to connect to visually enables users to connect with the content and makes them more likely to trust what they’re being told. It just goes to show that the way in which a message is communicated is just as important as the information being shared.
The project requires close collaboration across the industry. Did you come up against particular challenges in coordinating so many organisations?
You can’t complete this kind of project on your own – you have to collaborate across the industry.
This is why the SISJ programme was best placed to take on the challenge of developing the national proposition, which this now is. I think it’s fair to say that everyone across the industry wants to improve the information that is out there and available to customers.
That desire to improve communications to customers drove much of the coordination across the project. We also had a lot of the infrastructure already in place. For instance, the NRCC was well placed to produce the videos as it already disseminates disruption information, both planned and unplanned.
We used the programme’s collaborative way of working, building on the infrastructure already in place to launch the videos.
Looking ahead, how do you see this project evolving?
We’re always looking at how technology can help us to improve the information our customers receive. We are looking at incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly for the unplanned disruption videos we’re currently working on.
It’s challenging to produce such videos on a tight timeframe while also incorporating BSL. There is a level of accuracy that we must meet and it’s important to get that right. AI is one of the options we’re investigating, but it’s important to ensure that it works properly and it won’t be used in any of the videos released this summer. It’s very much in the research stage, where we are conducting customer engagement.
As an industry, we know that reliability and functionality are critically important, but we also accept that the network is not immune to issues which can disrupt travel plans. When these issues arise, we’re absolutely committed to getting critical information to customers as quickly as we possibly can, in a user-friendly manner.
Customers will see an increasing number of these videos in future, making planning their journeys simpler, and planning around expected and unexpected delays less stressful.
Image credit: RDG
