Ten companies have been selected for the Rail Growth Support Programme, built to move rail innovation from trial to operational adoption.
Connected Places Catapult has selected Amygda for its Rail Growth Support Programme, delivered in partnership with Network Rail and supported by Innovate UK. The cohort was chosen from across the Catapult’s alumni network.
Over the coming months, each company receives tailored growth business support.. That includes mentoring, access to rail industry experts, stakeholder connections, station visits and trial design.
Amygda’s Operational Risk Platform for Rail
Fleet reliability teams don’t lack data. They have more of it than they can read.
Sensor data. Fault codes. Defect reports. Maintenance records. Depot notes written in free text by different people on different shifts.
The information is there. The problem is knowing what it means today.
Which trains need attention first? Which subsystems are drifting toward a failure? Which defect that looks minor is actually the start of a pattern?
Most of the time, that question gets answered after the train has already caused a delay.
Amygda is building a new type of operational risk platform for rail. It reads the data operators already hold and turns it into risk scores for each train and subsystem. Reliability and maintenance teams can see where to act first, and act earlier, before a fault becomes a cancelled service.
Amygda and Deutsche Bahn launched the initial risk scores
Amygda developed this approach with DB Regio, one of the largest regional rail operators in Europe.
DB Regio runs 21,000 train services every day. The hardest ones to get right are the first trains of the morning, coming straight out of overnight maintenance with no recent operating history.
The validation work brought together more than 250 million records from fault logs, damage reports and vehicle allocation systems.
Over 1,600 free-text fault codes were grouped into 57 actionable categories.
The result: You can red Amygda case study with DB Regio risk scores
80% of at-risk trains identified at least 60 minutes before departure.
That hour is the window dispatchers need. Time to swap a train, adjust maintenance, or trigger a contingency plan before passengers reach the platform.
The work won Deutsche Bahn’s Innovation Award, and validation is now expanding across additional S-Bahn operations.
Support from Connected Places Catapult to grow in Rail
UK rail is going through its biggest structural change in a generation. Great British Railways is bringing track and train closer together.
That changes who makes decisions about reliability, and what information they need to make them.
Dr Alan Peters, Rail Director at Connected Places Catapult, put it this way:
“The rail industry is entering a period of significant change, with Great British Railways bringing track and train closer together. For businesses developing new solutions, this presents an opportunity to engage with the people shaping the future of the sector and understand where their technology can address real-world challenges.”
For Amygda, the programme is about one thing. Taking what we validated in Germany and testing where it fits in UK operations: which teams, which fleets, which decisions.
“Every operator we speak to has years of maintenance history that nobody has time to read. The value isn’t in collecting more data. It’s in telling a reliability engineer which three trains to look at this morning, and why. The Catapult gives us direct access to the people who make those calls in UK rail.” — Faizan Patankar, CEO, Amygda
Talk to Us About Your Fleet
If you run fleet reliability or maintenance for a UK operator, we’d like to hear what’s slowing your team down. A 30-minute conversation covers:
- How risk scores are built from your existing maintenance and fault data
- What the DB Regio validation involved, step by step
- What a 4 to 6 week pilot on one fleet would look like
- What data you’d need to share (usually less than you think)
Book a conversation → email faizan@amygdalabs.com
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Rail Growth Support Programme? A Connected Places Catapult programme, delivered with Network Rail and supported by Innovate UK, that helps early-stage rail companies move towards operational adoption. Each of the ten selected companies receives tailored growth support.
What problem is Amygda solving for rail operators? Fleet reliability teams hold large volumes of fault codes, defect reports and maintenance records but can’t easily see which trains or subsystems need attention first. Amygda turns that data into risk scores so teams can act before a fault causes a delay.
Does Amygda require new sensors on trains? No. The platform works with data operators already collect, including free-text maintenance records and fault logs. That avoids a long sensor installation or data collection phase before results are visible.
What did the DB Regio validation show? 80% of at-risk trains were identified at least 60 minutes before departure. Over 250 million records and 1,600+ fault codes were consolidated into 57 actionable categories.
How long does it take to get started? A typical implementation takes 4 to 6 weeks, because the platform uses existing records rather than new data sources.
Who is the platform for? Fleet reliability engineers, maintenance planners and control teams. It supports their judgement with a prioritised view of risk. It doesn’t replace their expertise.
