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FictiveBox
Industry: Railways (Rolling Stock)

Railway software systems engineered by people who have been in the depot at 3 a.m.

A dedicated practice for passenger and freight operators, rolling stock OEMs and infrastructure managers. Rolling stock telematics, depot and MRO software, signaling integrations, passenger experience platforms and TS 50701 aligned cybersecurity. Built by engineers who read EN 50126, TCN and IEC 61375 without Googling them.

The real problems

What actually breaks in rail software programs.

Problem

Unscheduled fleet withdrawals

Failures you cannot predict pull vehicles from service. Depots scramble. Timetables slip. Customers notice.

Problem

Depot paperwork stalling turnaround

Paper work orders, Excel-based parts tracking and whiteboards for skills-based dispatch add hours to every vehicle.

Problem

Signaling data stuck in silos

Trackside systems, onboard gateways and operations centers running on three incompatible data models.

Problem

Cyber posture that will not survive TS 50701

Safety-relevant systems with vendor-managed credentials, shared keys and no evidence pipeline for auditors.

How we fit

A full-stack railway engineering partner.

From edge firmware on the train to dashboards in the operations center. Six capability areas that cover the full rolling stock software stack.

Rolling stock telematics

Onboard gateways, sensor fusion and edge analytics wired to CMMS and ERP. Sub-2-second end-to-end latency in production.

Depot and MRO platforms

Workshop scheduling, predictive parts logistics, digital work orders and skills-based dispatch. Measured 45% shorter cycle times.

Condition-based maintenance

ML models for wheel, traction, HVAC and door subsystems. Measured 38% drop in unscheduled withdrawals across 1,200 EMUs.

Signaling and trackside integration

ETCS-aware integrations, asset registries and trackside data acquisition. We speak TCN, MVB and Ethernet Train Backbone.

Passenger experience platforms

Passenger information systems, journey companions and occupancy analytics. WCAG 2.2 AA is the baseline, not a stretch goal.

TS 50701 cybersecurity

Cyber-physical risk assessments, secure OTA and zero-trust onboard networks with evidence pipelines for independent assessors.

Outcomes in production

Measured, not modeled.

38%
Fewer unscheduled withdrawals
+22%
Mean time between failures
45%
Shorter depot work-order cycle
99.94%
Onboard system uptime
Featured products

From our rail practice: systems already in production.

Platforms we built for a mechanical workshop of Indian Railways: HOT-PASS for hot work permits and coach positioning, and RailCanteen for the workshop's staff canteen.

Hot Work · Permit-to-Work

HOT-PASS

It replaced paper fire safety permits and whiteboard coach tracking with a governed, real time system that spans the whole overhaul journey, from entry and verification through positioning and approval to exit.

  • Digital permits to work
  • Enforced fire safety checklist
  • Live shop, line and position tracking
  • Two step approvals and audit trail
Read the case study
At a glance
Industry
Railway rolling stock MRO
Modules
9: coach ops, hot work, incidents, reports…
Access
Role based access, 8 roles
Platform
Web and installable Android
Stack
NestJS · Prisma · PostgreSQL · React
Staff Welfare · Canteen

RailCanteen

It moved the workshop's workers' canteen from cash queues and guesswork cooking to advance meal booking on the workers' phones, UPI payments the server verifies and reconciles itself, QR-coded serving and a full operations dashboard.

  • Advance booking with cutoffs
  • Self-healing UPI reconciliation
  • QR-coded serving at the counter
  • Wallet refunds and daily reports
Read the case study
At a glance
Industry
Railway staff welfare canteen
Modules
8: ordering, payments, fulfilment, reports…
Access
Admin, permission-scoped sub-admins, staff
Platform
Flutter apps and web dashboard
Stack
Flutter · Node.js · MongoDB · React
Also from our rail practice

RSM: rolling stock POH planning, already in production.

RSM is a Rolling Stock Management System we built for a carriage workshop of Indian Railways, digitizing the coach Periodic Overhaul lifecycle from rake intake to the daily plan on the floor.

Rolling Stock · POH / MRO

RSM

It replaced whiteboard overhaul plans and paper gang slips with a governed system: a system-level Gantt for every sub-system, stage-wise daily plans, BOM and Bill of Tasks control, and an append-only audit trail across the whole overhaul.

  • System-level POH Gantt planning
  • Stage-wise daily gang plans
  • BOM & Bill of Tasks control
  • Shop-scoped RBAC and audit trail
Read the case study
At a glance
Industry
Rolling stock POH / MRO
Focus
Overhaul planning, daily execution, BOM
Access
Role-based access, dual identity
Platform
Web and installable Android tablet
Stack
NestJS · TypeORM · PostgreSQL · React · Capacitor
Mini use-cases

Shapes these engagements usually take.

Operator

From prototype to 1,200-vehicle rollout in 14 months

Tier-1 passenger operator went live across its full EMU fleet with edge telematics, predictive maintenance and CMMS integration. 38% fewer unscheduled withdrawals.

OEM

Aftermarket data platform for a rolling stock OEM

Unified telemetry across multiple customer fleets with tenant isolation, TS 50701 aligned cyber controls and aftermarket revenue tracking.

Infrastructure

Depot operations platform across 9 depots

Replaced paper-based work orders with digital operations, predictive parts and skills-based scheduling. 45% shorter cycle times, 19% higher asset availability.

Standards and integrations

Speaks the language of rail.

EN 50155
TS 50701
IEC 61375 (TCN)
ETCS / ERTMS
GTFS-RT
S1000D
RAMS / EN 50126
OPC-UA
MQTT / Sparkplug B
FAQ

Common questions

What railway software does FictiveBox build?
Rolling stock telematics, depot and MRO software, signalling and trackside data integration, train management systems, passenger information systems, and cybersecurity work aligned to TS 50701. The coverage runs from edge firmware on the vehicle to dashboards in the operations centre.
Has FictiveBox delivered production railway systems?
Yes. Three are documented as full case studies: HOT-PASS, a hot work permit and rolling stock workshop management system; RSM, a rolling stock Periodic Overhaul planning and workshop management system; and RailCanteen, a workshop canteen booking and management system. All three were built for mechanical and carriage workshops of Indian Railways.
What does POH planning software need to do?
Lay out a coach overhaul across every sub-system on a system-level Gantt, break that into stage-wise daily plans that allocate gangs, control the bill of materials and bill of tasks so work is standardised, scope visibility to the right shop, and keep an append-only audit trail so the overhaul stays accountable. That is the shape of the RSM system we built.
Does FictiveBox work with government and public sector rail buyers?
Yes. The published railway case studies were delivered for workshops of Indian Railways, and the client base includes zonal railways and public sector undertakings under the Ministry of Railways.
Which technologies are used for railway software?
The rail work draws on the same engineering stack as our IoT and ERP practices, including web platforms and installable Android tablet applications for shop-floor use, with role-based access control and audit trails as standard requirements rather than options.

Modernize your fleet, depot or operations control.

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