Tata Consultancy Services announced that it has been selected by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) to design, develop, implement, and operate the UK's Rail Data Marketplace (RDM). The contract between TCS and RDG is for a term of six years including an extension term opportunity. The RDM will bring together fragmented sources of rail data into one digital service, to accelerate innovation in the transport sector and enhance the passenger experience.

It was first announced in 2021 by the UK Rail Minister, Chris Heaton-Harris, as part of his plan to stimulate collaboration between the government and industry to accelerate innovation and deliver new products and services to enhance passenger experience and the effective movement of freight. The RDM will offer tools and frameworks to improve the sharing of data and real-time information to passengers across the UK. This will simplify data sharing across operational bodies, including the UK's rail and non-rail transportation and the mobility network.

It will also increase access to data for public and private bodies, improving transparency and facilitating a UK wide railway innovation ecosystem. In the development of the RDM, TCS will leverage TCS DexamTM a controlled data exchange environment for enterprises and their ecosystem partners. It enables democratisation, monetisation, and commercialisation of data, while preserving the security, privacy, and consent of data and its stakeholders.

Additionally, TCS will use Google's Apigee platform to develop and securely manage the APIs that partner applications will use to connect with the RDM.