In a world where the decarbonization of industries is at the center of public policies, the development of increasingly sustainable means of transport can be one of the main responses to this great challenge. As long as we make it attractive and continually reduce the energy consumption associated with its activity.
As a world-leading company in the railway sector, Alstom's ambition is precisely aligned with this approach. “Alstom’s role is not only to provide rolling stock, services and signaling, but also to offer mobility solutions for a world undergoing profound change,” says CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge. Alstom is more than just a provider of means of transport for more than 90 million passengers every day, it is a key player and a forerunner of tomorrow's mobility, which must be efficient, sustainable and digital. And that's when the power of technological innovation and the partnership with Microsoft and capgemini came into play.
Going digital increases differentiation and customer satisfaction
The two big challenges at the heart of Alstom's strategic plan for 2025 are to deliver smarter and more sustainable mobility. And as these challenges are strategic, they bring into management the need to capitalize on the power of the cloud and accelerate the digitalization of its services.
From high-speed trains to on-board systems, Alstom is present across the entire value chain. Its business is organized into three divisions: rolling stock manufacturing, signaling and maintenance. Although highly complementary, each of these divisions is guiding the development of high-value-added digital applications that continually enrich the rail service offered by the Group to its customers, be they operators, infrastructure managers or transport authorities. Applications are part of a common approach to achieving the objectives defined by the Group.
At the top of this list is the need to ensure the punctuality of transport services, with reliable and efficient trains, for example, through a predictive and remote maintenance process. This also requires digital services that enable better fleet orchestration, a better appreciation of the traffic context and an immediate view of possible and effective alternatives in the event of incidents. It is also essential to provide users with high-quality information on all aspects of intermodality, make their journeys along platforms and stations more fluid and encourage them to use public transport.
As a logical progression, Alstom aims to place security at the heart of its digital transformation. The implementation of onboard video systems makes it possible to detect the number of passengers, abnormal movements, abandoned luggage and incidents, inherent to the day-to-day life of a transport operator.
Through its strategic plan, the Group is also intensifying its innovation policy to make trains increasingly modern and environmentally friendly. And here, again, digital services play a fundamental role in the decarbonization of your activities, as they identify sustainable solutions and further reduce the impact of transport modes.
Passengers, station staff or train crews, IT support. The use cases developed are as numerous as the target audience of these applications.
Alstom knows it needs to rationalize its infrastructure and capitalize on rapid innovation. That's why it chose to centralize all its applications on a single Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, based on Microsoft Azure technologies, to make them even more powerful and ready for the future.
Modernizing SaaS applications on Azure
The digital services platform operated by Alstom teams connects previously siled services and makes it easy to scale to meet evolving customer expectations in an agile, cross-functional way. As a result, applications are no longer hosted on servers, but directly in the secure Microsoft Azure cloud. “Azure is not only the most comprehensive and reliable cloud on the market, it is also the cloud that allows Alstom to accelerate its digital transformation by leveraging its resources and continuous innovation”, says Guillaume Rabier, vice president of IT solutions of the Alstom customer.
The strength of the cloud also lies in its ability to facilitate the adoption of a data-centric approach, as data is centralized, accessible and instructive. A new form of shared governance is then implemented to capitalize on this wealth of information. “By hosting applications in the same place, they communicate, exchange information with each other and bring value that benefits both the customer and Alstom. This is the great strength of this platform”, explains Vincent Bonnevay, program manager at Alstom.
Surprises can indeed arise between development and reality. The development of the SaaS platform gave Alstom teams greater visibility into usage and adoption data for the tools they developed. This allowed them to better understand how the tools were actually used and to continually iterate and optimize their offering to meet users' needs as closely as possible.
A concrete example of these benefits is the issue of energy consumption of rolling stock. This data is measured using a dedicated application integrated into the driver assistance modules. It communicates best practices to drivers in real time and improves overall customer fleet operation. This energy measurement is also transmitted to Alstom's design teams, who understand how trains are operated beyond the theoretical calculations they carry out in their design offices, and can thus integrate this field knowledge into their future routes.
The data collected for the operational management of trains also benefits passengers. The apps report train location data, any disruptions and the nature of potential problems. This information is then transmitted through passenger information apps, which provide passengers with useful recommendations, accessible interchanges and places to avoid at any given time.
The most comprehensive, robust, secure and scalable platform on the market
Whether digital or physical, the services that Alstom offers must be perfectly reliable. For the Group, therefore, it was essential to opt for a robust and proven platform, which is a fundamental factor in ensuring the best quality of service for its customers. API Gateway, Azure API Management, Azure Active Directory, Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Sentinel. “All of these services depend on the efficient and secure circulation of data, and this data is extremely valuable. We chose Microsoft Azure for its infrastructure technology, which allows us to develop this platform quickly and efficiently, but also for the data security it guarantees”, explains Guillaume Rabier, vice president of IT customer solutions at Alstom. Vincent Bonnevay adds: “We are reassured by the fact that it is already a certified solution, allowing us to scale extremely quickly.”
Due to the long duration of contracts, as well as the longevity of rolling stock and associated maintenance, the issue of solution scalability is also decisive. To ensure the SaaS platform is future-proof and relevant as technology evolves, it was imperative that the group move forward with an innovative technology partner and the right computing model. “In addition to the speed with which we were able to develop this platform, the ease of integration of new applications was particularly appreciated by our teams”, reports Vincent Bonnevay. Alstom also called on Capgemini to help them define the Target Operating Model and all processes required to operate the platform.
Data and Generative Artificial Intelligence: the future of mobility will be disruptive
“Our digital transformation continues and we are working with Microsoft to integrate Generative Artificial Intelligence into our offering, with Azure OpenAI”, reinforces Guillaume Rabier. “We will explore all the possibilities of digital and data to add value, be increasingly efficient and sustainable, improve the user experience, facilitate the routine of operators and all those who operate measuring tapes and their entire ecosystem. It is a real pride for us to work in a sector that allows millions of passengers to be transported every day in a sustainable way, with a very low carbon footprint”, concludes Vincent Bonnevay.
