The Passenger Services Group (PSG) innovation workshop on “Rethinking Rail Customer Service” was held at UIC Headquarters in Paris on 30 June 2025. More than 30 participants attended, representing a wide array of major industry stakeholders. This included railway undertakings and infrastructure managers such as the National Railways of France (SNCF), Trenitalia, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Swedish State Railways (SJ), Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) Start, the Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE), Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), Croatian Railways (HŽPP), Catalan Government Railways (FGC), and Italian Railway Network (RFI). Other attendees included academic institutions such as the University of Zagreb, the University of Birmingham, and TU Wien, as well as various industry stakeholders including Entur AS, FSTechnology SpA, Back-on-Track EU, and UIC.
Vittorio Carta, Chair of the UIC PSG, and Bertrand Minary, UIC Passenger Director, opened the workshop, welcoming the participants attending both in person and online.
After a quick round of introductions, Stefano Scarci, EY, presented an overview of the trends and innovations reshaping rail customer service. The rail sector is facing several challenges, including evolving customer expectations, the need to address diverse passenger requirements, and effectively leveraging new technologies, all while maintaining cost efficiency and service consistency across all touchpoints. According to the 2025 edition of the EY Future Travel Behaviours Observatory, customers expect a personalised travel experience, real-time information on delays and disruptions, and seamless options for rescheduling their journeys. Additionally, there is growing interest in AI-powered assistance to enhance the travel experience. In his presentation, Scarci showcased key innovations and best practices for improving customer service, all backed by real-world examples.
Interactive surveys conducted among participants confirmed the relevance of these challenges and highlighted broad consensus on the potential of the proposed innovations to enhance rail customer service.
Maria Gusarova, UIC Senior Stations Advisor, delivered a presentation on best practices for enhancing passenger assistance at stations. She emphasised that these practices must be tailored to meet different passenger needs. For example, large-font, high-contrast, easy-to-read signage benefits elderly passengers, while audio and visual announcements can improve accessibility for train arrivals, delays, and platform changes. She also underscored the importance of clear, simplified instructions without complex jargon, as well as real-time updates on service changes, ideally with staff assistance nearby. Further best practices addressed the specific needs of passengers with reduced mobility, visual impairments, hearing impairments, neurodiversity, or hidden disabilities. The presentation included real-life examples and underlined the importance of working alongside disability organisations, as demonstrated by the efforts of the UIC Accessibility Group of Experts (PASSAGE).
Francesca Palano, EY, shared a case study on AI-driven customer service transformation. She described a project for a company with over 100,000 employees and millions of customers, which involved 4000 service agents. This included designing and developing a GenAI-powered Knowledge Management System with a Q&A chatbot that provides employees with immediate answers (within 5 seconds) to customer issues. The system enhanced the customer experience by streamlining operations and boosting efficiency. Moreover, first-call resolution and average customer service call duration improved significantly.
In the breakout sessions, participants had the opportunity to discuss and brainstorm ideas for the following questions:
1. How can we empower passengers to manage their travel experiences, make informed decisions, access real-time information, and personalise their journeys?
2. How can rail contact centres leverage technology and best practices to enhance productivity and elevate customer satisfaction?
3. How can UIC solutions such as the Real Time Mobility Data Exchange (RTDME), the Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM), and the electronic Ticket Control Database (eTCD) be effectively utilised and further developed to foster coordination across the rail industry and build synergy between stakeholders?
Top-ranked ideas based on impact and feasibility included:
- Listening to customer feedback
- Deploying initiatives to encourage the use of real-time data
- Supporting customers during their multimodal door-to-door journeys
- Revising and automating processes (such as refunds)
- Leveraging AI advancements
