Technologies that emerge from challenges and opportunities can encompass both new products and services, and those which have been redeveloped or indeed redeployed, within or outside of their original application, alongside new and innovative processes of production or delivery. Solutions can range from technological equipment to the data enabling it, to the systems in which it operates.

In the rail industry, technological innovation has a broad scope as per the complexity of the ecosystem and its bespoke presence in each location. It could cover aspects such as infrastructure, from groundworks to buildings, and rolling stock, from engineering to interiors, across passenger and freight; but also operational aspects, including signalling, safety and environmental systems, and maintenance.