RCEA × Young Rail Professionals · The use of AI in rail
ICE London · One Great George Street · 24 September 2026 AutomateX
Bill Guo · Founder, AutomateX

AI, Rail and Engineering.
The why, what and how.

Why it matters to your careerWhat actually changes in the jobHow to start, this month
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
Who is talking

I started where you are sitting.

Rail
Graduate scheme to Chartered Civil Engineer. About a decade on both sides of the delivery table, most recently Engineering Manager at Jacobs leading HS2 delivery, and a former Designated Project Engineer.
AI
Founder of AutomateX, building AI systems for UK rail teams. RISQS verified, delivering AI work with Network Rail today.
ICE
Fellow of the ICE and Vice Chair of the ICE London Regional Executive Board. Last week I hosted the same question in this building, for civil engineers of every discipline.
Not a futurist. An engineer who changed his own workflow first.
Network RailHS2JacobsRISQS
Bill Guo
AutomateX · AI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
25%50%80% share of factory power from electric motors, US 188018901900191019201930 1882 · steam, shafts and belts 1909 · still under a quarter 1899 · under 5%, inside the old factory 1905 · build around the motor 1919 · over half 1913 · Ford motor assembly line 1929 · about 80% the 1920s boom 1929 · the Roaring Twenties twenty years installing the motor inside the old factory the factory rebuilt around the motor A faster tool rises to the ceiling set by the workflow around it.
US Census of Manufactures 1929; Paul David, The Dynamo and the Computer, 1990; Warren Devine, From Shafts to Wires, 1983. Pictures: Baines 1835 engraving and Governor Square c.1929 via Wikimedia Commons; Library of Congress.
A mill floor driven by line shafts and belts, engraving after T. Allom, 1835
1882
Factories run on steam, shafts and belts. In New York, Edison switches on the first central power station.
Engraving after T. Allom, Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture, 1835. Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Electric motor beside the steam plant it replaced, 1905
1905
A few firms stop fitting the motor to the factory and build the factory around the motor. People think they are mad.
Library of Congress, 1905
Ford motor assembly line, about 1913
1913
The Ford motor assembly line. The rest follow.
Library of Congress, about 1913
Why · a story from the last time

A similar productivity boom.

1919 to 1929
+46%
output per man-hour
59 → 51
hours in the working week
×5.5
electricians, a trade that barely existed: 50,717 in 1900, about 280,000 by 1930
And some skills carried straight across the era. The people who could lay out the work.
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
Why · a hundred years on

The motor is now AI. The factory is how we deliver infrastructure.

Fit it into the old factory, or rebuild around it?
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
Why · where rail is in 2026

AI capability rose fast and is still rising. Adoption lagged, and is closing the gap.

201420182022 AI capability ChatGPT · Nov 2022 GPT-4o · May 2024 GPT-5 · Aug 2025 2026 models the gap tonight 2026 · tonight infrastructure adoption AI already in rail prediction and monitoring DfT · Jun 2025 GBRX · Apr 2026 ORR · May 2026
Selected milestones; spacing is schematic.
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
Why · the career question

AI in rail is moving from pilot to practice. Nobody is 10 years ahead of you.

The profession has noticed
The ICE Code of Professional Conduct was updated in April 2026. Competence with the tools you use, AI included, is now part of what you sign up to.
Most teams are still deciding what to do
Pilots everywhere, practice in pockets. The people who work out the practice will set it for everyone else.
You have the least invested in the old way
The habits your seniors spent 20 years building are the hardest thing to change. You have not built them yet.
The best-placed people in the room are the ones still learning the job.
AutomateX · AI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
What · work for the work

Peel the layers and the core is engineering judgement.

engineering judgement
formatting and re-typing
finding the last version
re-entering the same context
chasing comments and approvals
first drafts of things written a hundred times
engineering judgement, and the signature
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
What · the shape of the change

What actually changes in the job.

AI-assisted AI supports the decision acceptance · sign-off · the design choice the engineer owns the judgement AI surfaces context, precedent and risk the engineer decides and signs AI-enabled human and AI, in turn condition reports · review responses · option studies the engineer frames the task prepares the inputs and context AI drafts and analyses the engineer verifies and issues AI-replaced routine, rule-based, checkable formatting · re-typing · finding the last version the document arrives AI extracts and re-types AI checks it against the template filed; the engineer spot-checks Build with increasing proficiency prompting → context engineering → harness engineering → loops Fit the model to the task small models for small tasks, and verify every output Know the boundary hand over the thinking, never the understanding
Our value is the vault. AI is the golden key.
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
What · one example, last year

55 stations to survey.

site 55walk · photograph · type · climb stations, every one on foot capture 360° drone · 360° camera · laser scan data 7,000 images point clouds · images · reports AI agents agents working characterise · categorise · compare engineers first 3 stations, then iterate competent engineers verify 300 condition reportssame template, defects newly found intelligencefor the next control period 6 months → 2 monthsthe time-consuming part, same engineers ICE East of EnglandMerit Awards 2025 · Winner
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
How · find the right workflow first

Score the workflow before you automate it.

The mistake is not bad tools. It is automating the wrong thing first. 2 questions sort every workflow you own.
Can it be automated?
Is the process written down, are the rules dense, are the inputs structured? A form with a standard behind it scores high. A judgement call in a site meeting scores low.
Should it be?
Volume, pain, leverage. Something you do 40 times a year that blocks others is worth automating. Something annoying you do twice a year is not.
Start where both say yes. High on both axes, and leave the rest alone. Some work should stay exactly as it is. The map matters more than the model.
AutomateX · AI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
How · start without asking for a programme

You do not need a transformation programme. You need 1 workflow.

01 · Pick one workflow with written rules
Something you did this month that follows a standard, a template or a checklist. A form, a register, a comment sheet, a take-off. Small enough to finish. Real enough to matter.
02 · Prove it beside the old way
Do the work both ways on a real job. Check every output yourself. Then show your lead the difference in coverage and iterations, not the hours.
03 · Compound: write down what worked
The prompts, the checks, the failure cases. The 2nd workflow is faster than the 1st, and that record becomes your value to any team you ever join.
Start smaller than feels impressive.
AutomateX · AI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
How · the part that does not change

Use it like an engineer.

AI can support
Searching, comparison, drafting, calculation and pattern detection.
Engineers retain
Verification, judgement, disclosure and responsibility for the decision.
ICE Code of Professional Conduct, April 2026: understand the limitations and risks of the technologies you use, disclose their use where relevant, keep that use justified and proportionate, and retain responsibility for professional decisions.
Check the output like a subcontractor's design. Confident and wrong look identical on screen. The signature stays yours, and the Code applies to work done with a tool exactly as it applies to work done without one.
AutomateX · AI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
Next step

Pick 1 workflow this month, and score it.

Not a strategy. Not a licence request. One workflow, 2 questions, a real job.
QR code to automatex.uk/rcea.html
A gift to take homeTonight's slides and the first step, laid out: one workflow and two questions, a 30-day plan, the checks to run on every output, and where to start.automatex.uk/rcea.html · scan now, read on the train
1Tonight. Walk back through the last month and ask, honestly: to what extent could AI be leveraged here? Most people find 3 candidates before the train home.
2This month. Can it, should it. Run the winner beside the old way on a real job, verify everything, and show your lead the coverage, not the hours.
3Then. Tell me what you found. What worked, what fell over, what surprised you. Rooms like this one are how the industry learns.
Bill Guo FICE CEng MEng · Founder, AutomateX · bill.guo@automatex.uk · automatex.uk
AutomateXAutomateXAI, Rail and Engineering · RCEA × YRP · ICE London · 24 September 2026
1 / 13← →F full