Innovating the railway industry

Overview

Cosan Group is a giant Brazilian logistic company that started an innovation program to implement new technologies and projects on their recently acquired railway company, Rumo. Their main goal was to bring the old locomotives from the 1970s to the 21st century through new features and technologies. Those trains had non-digital equipment and very poor integration with contemporary technology.

We have to control the train driver working hours, but the locomotive has no systems to control the shift nor an internet access point. The locomotive is constantly passing through areas with no network coverage.

Methodology

Given the project's innovative aspect, the design thinking approach was the right strategy. The company wanted to create an app that allows the train driver to input his working hours. But, there were plenty more features and possibilities to be explored that should be validated with real users.

Discovering way more than how to drive a train

The discovery started with an immersion in the railroad. We enrolled in the company's basic train driver course and embarked on our first train trip. After the basic training, there was an assessment. The basic training focused mainly on safety rules and overall railway processes. During this training, we found an important issue: just like the driving rules, according to the railway rules book, train drivers are forbidden to handle their phones during conduction.

The basic training was followed by a 60 km train journey pulling a load of soybeans. During this period, it was possible to observe the context and the behavior of the driver while driving. After the trip, some interviews were performed with the technical staff to understand the whole process, map the context, and identify potential opportunities.

Understanding the context and exploring new opportunities

During the UX stage, many tools were used to explore the context, understand the users, map the flows, and document the findings.

Real-world deep-dive

More than 100 hours were spent in the basic training and interviews with staff members.
Interviews

The discovery phase covered more than 50 users, including drivers and technical staff.
A lot of UX stuff

Tools like user journey, personas, and empathy map were created to understand the user profile.

Designing amazing things with analog and digital tools

After the discovery stage, a lot of drafts, mind maps and other drawings were created to materialize the findings. This stage produced a lot of visual assets that guided the following stages.

User Interface

The user interface was designed to focus on the mobile experience. All the components were planned prioritizing: good readability, high contrast, and similarity to user-known interfaces. The color palette is inspired by Rumo's brand colors.

Validating with real users

The last stage was the usability validation with real users. The tests were conducted with more than 10 drivers that should follow a sequence of simple tasks. The whole test was recorded and the user actions were tracked using heatmap software.

Project results

The project was a complete success and allowed the company to release an app with more than 20 features. Due to its innovations for the railroad industry, Rumo presented its innovative project at the Oracle OpenWorld event and was awarded.

New features

More than 20 new features were designed and implemented in the final application.
Oracle OpenWorld Award

Rumo earned the excellence award during the Oracle OpenWorld event.
Thousand of users

Thousands of staff members use the app in South America.