This paper was published in IRSE NEWS December 2017. It has been produced to summarise the strategic drivers of change in the signalling industry, as viewed by the IRSE International Technical Committee (ITC).

This report does not attempt to capture every factor influencing change in our industry, or focus on specific technical details, but rather to capture the primary trends, from an international perspective.

The report is divided into two sections. The first section discusses drivers of change from the perspective of the user/specifier of signalling system. The second section addresses drivers of change from a supplier/provider perspective. The ITC considers the primary technology drivers to be:

• Continued emphasis on system safety (re-definition of ‘safe‑state’, re-evaluation/application of ALARP principles, cyber security, etc.).
• Increased focus on operations (capacity, automation, system reliability/availability/maintainability, ‘big data’, etc.).
• Lower cost signalling solutions to support business case for signalling upgrades (commercial considerations, obsolescence considerations, etc.).
• Maintaining a competitive edge (engineering processes, hardware costs, software costs, implementation costs, etc.).
• Global solutions/products (and technology convergence).
• Communications technology considerations

The reasoning behind the above list is summarised in the report. Many of the topics in this report have been the subject of prior ITC articles, or are the subject of articles currently under development by the ITC. Relevant references are provided as footnotes to this report. Note that the ITC has also recognised the challenges of introducing changes within the railway industry.