Rail Capacity Planner (RCP): One Platform, Endless Possibilities

Studio Ab Ovo talks with Assil Al Ibrahim, Product Owner of Rail Capacity Planner (RCP) and Senior Business Consultant at Ab Ovo, about the challenges of modern rail planning, the evolution of RCP, and the future of integrated planning solutions.

Building Better Rail Plans

Studio Ab Ovo: What is your role as Product Owner of RCP?

Assil Al Ibrahim:
As Product Owner, I’m responsible for the direction of the product. Together with our customers and development teams, I decide which new capabilities should be added and how the product should evolve. Ultimately, my goal is simple: make sure the solution helps our customers plan more efficiently and make better decisions.

RCP, which stands for Rail Capacity Planner, is an integrated planning solution specifically developed for the rail industry. What makes it unique is that it brings together different planners, resources, and planning horizons in a single environment. Whether you’re planning rolling stock, train drivers, train paths, or day-of-operation activities, everyone works from the same platform.

From Spreadsheets to Intelligent Planning

Studio Ab Ovo: Why do rail operators need a solution like RCP?

Assil:
Rail planning is incredibly complex. You’re not only dealing with trains and employees, but also with labor regulations, business rules, maintenance schedules, infrastructure constraints, and unexpected disruptions.

Historically, many organizations relied on spreadsheets or disconnected planning tools. That works up to a certain point, but once you’re planning hundreds of employees and locomotives, complexity grows rapidly.

RCP helps planners create efficient plans while automatically taking all those constraints into account. The system continuously validates decisions against labor agreements and business rules, giving planners immediate feedback.

For example, if a driver reports sick, RCP can immediately suggest qualified replacements who are available and compliant with all applicable regulations. Instead of manually checking dozens of conditions, the planner can focus on making the best operational decision.

Creating a Single Point of Truth

One of the biggest challenges in rail operations is that information is often spread across multiple systems and departments.

Assil:
That’s why one of the core concepts behind RCP is what we call a single point of truth.

All planners work within the same environment. If one planner makes a change, everyone else sees it immediately. There is no need for separate spreadsheets, endless emails, or phone calls to synchronize information.

That alone creates enormous efficiency gains. Everyone is working with the same data, the same assumptions, and the same reality.

Integrating the Entire Railway Ecosystem

RCP is designed to fit within existing IT landscapes rather than replace everything at once.

Assil:
Most rail operators already have systems for maintenance planning, infrastructure management, or operational control. We integrate with those systems and bring their information together inside RCP.

Take locomotive maintenance as an example. A planner doesn’t need to open a separate maintenance application to see whether a locomotive is available. The information is already visible within RCP.

The same applies to infrastructure works, delays, and other operational disruptions. Through real-time integrations, planners immediately see the impact of external events on their plans and can react accordingly.

Planning for the Unexpected

No railway operation runs exactly according to plan.

Assil:
That’s why RCP works across different planning horizons. We create an optimal long-term plan, refine it in the short term, and then support planners during daily operations.

When something unexpected happens, there’s no need to recalculate the entire operation. We only focus on the affected part of the plan. That allows planners to respond much faster while maintaining overall stability.

To support this process, RCP continuously monitors plan quality. Visual indicators immediately show planners where attention is needed, enabling them to act before small issues become bigger operational problems.

From Custom Projects to a Global Product

The origins of RCP go back many years.

Assil:
In the early days, Ab Ovo developed highly customized rail applications for individual customers. Over time, we noticed that organizations increasingly wanted a standard product that already contained industry best practices while still offering flexibility.

That insight led to the development of RCP.

Today, after roughly two decades of continuous evolution, the platform combines proven functionality with extensive configurability. Different planners can customize screens, dashboards, KPIs, and workflows to suit their individual needs without requiring software development.

Just as importantly, development never stops. We regularly visit customers, observe planners at work, and identify opportunities to make processes faster and more intuitive.

A Modular Approach to Digital Transformation

One of the strengths of RCP is its modular design.

Assil:
Customers don’t have to replace all their existing systems at once. They can start with a specific planning domain—such as employee planning—and expand later if they choose.

That significantly lowers the barrier to adoption. Organizations can implement improvements step by step, reducing risk while delivering value much faster.

Looking Ahead

The future of rail planning is becoming increasingly connected and collaborative.

Assil:
One important development has been our support for TAF TSI standards, which standardize communication between rail operators and infrastructure managers across Europe. By integrating these standards directly into RCP, we help organizations exchange information more efficiently and consistently.

We’re also investing heavily in mobile capabilities. Employees can already submit leave requests and indicate scheduling preferences through mobile applications. The next step is giving them more influence over their schedules, including the ability to exchange shifts directly with colleagues.

Of course, flexibility can never come at the expense of compliance or safety. The system continues to validate every change against all applicable rules and qualifications.

Making Expertise Scalable

As rail networks become more complex, planning expertise becomes increasingly valuable.

Assil:
Our ambition is not to replace planners. It’s to help them perform at their best.

By combining optimization technology, decision support, real-time information, and decades of rail industry knowledge, RCP helps planners make better decisions faster.

In the end, that’s what successful planning is all about: giving people the right information, at the right time, so they can keep operations running smoothly.

And that’s exactly where we’re continuing to invest for the future.