Heading towards a greener tomorrow

Cities around the world are under growing pressure to manage complex transport systems, especially when faced with disruptions from extreme weather, technical failures, or large-scale events. Each incident can ripple across the rail network, causing cascading delays, passenger congestion, and communication challenges for operators and policymakers alike.

Building on our success as Global Grand Champions of the SAS Hackathon 2024, we wanted to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with analytics and real-time data. We wanted to explore how analytics and real-time data could transform the way these challenges are managed. For our SAS Hackathon 2025 submission, our team developed a proof of concept for a Digital Twin of a regional rail network, built on SAS Viya.

What is the challenge?

Transport disruptions don’t happen in isolation. A single line closure, storm, or event can quickly affect multiple routes, impact passenger flows, and cause widespread knock-on effects. Yet, many transport networks lack the real-time systems needed to anticipate and model these impacts as they unfold.

Our challenge was to design a solution that could:

• Simulate and forecast the impact of rail disruptions in real time
• Enable operators to reroute services dynamically
• Forecast passenger numbers during peak hours or events
• Estimate financial and passenger impacts of delays and cancellations
• Support faster, data-informed decision-making

Our solution: The Event Horizon Digital Twin for the rail network

Using SAS Viya, we built a Digital Twin that integrates live data streams with forecasting, optimisation, and intelligent decisioning models to replicate the behaviour of a rail network under stress.

This system can:

• Predict disruptions caused by weather events, such as floods or storms, using live APIs and historical data
• Model the cascading effects of delays or closures across the wider network
• Suggest alternative routes or transport modes for passengers
• Forecast passenger volumes during events or peak travel times
• Automatically trigger alerts and rerouting workflows through Agentic AI

During the hackathon, we focused on one regional network to demonstrate how a framework like this could reveal where, when, and how disruptions matter most - not just for individual stations, but across the entire connected system.

How the Digital Twin works

Our approach brought together multiple SAS Viya components:

• SAS Studio – Data preparation and processing
• SAS Visual Analytics – Real-time dashboard and visualisation
• Model Studio & Model Manager – Predictive and forecasting model development
• Event Stream Processing – Integrating live API feeds (e.g. flood warnings)
• Visual Forecasting – Predicting passenger numbers at peak times and during major events
• Optimisation – Identifying the most efficient alternative routes
• Intelligent Decisioning – Automating alert workflows and rerouting logic

For example, when a flood warning API triggers an alert, the system immediately identifies the high-risk area, recalculates the most efficient routes using optimisation models, forecasts the impact on passengers, and automatically generates alerts to operators and customers.

All this information is displayed through a single Visual Analytics dashboard that updates as new data arrives, providing a unified, command-and-control view for transport planners and decision-makers.

The expected impact

By combining real-time data with predictive modelling and automation, our Digital Twin demonstrates how cities can move from reactive crisis management to proactive, data-driven transport planning.

Potential outcomes include:

• Reduced disruption impact through faster decision-making and automated rerouting
• Improved passenger experience with timely alerts and alternative travel options
• Stronger operational resilience for transport operators and emergency services
• Data-backed infrastructure investment decisions for policymakers

Ultimately, our goal is to help cities become more resilient, connected, and sustainable, ensuring public transport continues to run smoothly, even when disruption strikes.

About the SAS Hackathon

The SAS Hackathon brings together teams from around the world to collaborate on data-driven solutions that tackle real-world problems. Using SAS Viya’s powerful analytics, machine learning, and AI capabilities, participants design and prototype solutions across industries.

We are proud to have contributed an innovative approach to improving transport resilience and look forward to exploring how this concept could evolve into real-world applications for public infrastructure and mobility planning, and look forward to SAS announcing this year's winners in December.

We’re proud to announce that Sara Boltman, co-founder of Butterfly Data, has recently joined the DAMA UK Committee. This is a great milestone that reflects both her individual expertise and Butterfly Data’s deep commitment to data management excellence.

About DAMA UK

DAMA UK is the UK chapter of the Data Management Association International (DAMA International), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing the understanding, development, and practice of data management. The association promotes professional standards across key disciplines including data governance, data quality, data architecture, metadata, and analytics.

As part of the committee, Sara will contribute to shaping best practices, fostering knowledge sharing within the data community, and supporting DAMA UK’s mission to raise data standards across industries. She will also sit on the Corporate Accounts sub-committee.

Aligned Values and Shared Principles

Our approach to building data solutions has always been closely aligned with DAMA’s principles. Whether it’s developing robust data governance frameworks, ensuring high-quality data pipelines, or designing sustainable data architectures, we embed these standards into every project we deliver.

Sara’s appointment to the DAMA UK Committee strengthens our connection to the wider data management community and ensures we continue to stay at the forefront of industry best practice, to help our clients create data solutions that are not just useful, but trusted, well-managed, and transformative.

We’re excited to share that Butterfly Data has officially been recognised as a Snowflake AI Data Cloud Services Select Partner. This is an important milestone for us and reflects the hard work we’ve put into building our Snowflake expertise through hands-on collaboration, training, and certifications across our team.

Becoming a Select Partner means we’re even better positioned to help organisations unlock the true value of their data. With Snowflake’s powerful platform and our client-focused approach, we can support businesses in transforming the way they manage, govern, and analyse their data, turning it into real business impact.

This achievement also adds to our growing list of partnerships, which already includes being a SAS Gold Partner, Databricks Registered Consulting Partner, and Microsoft Silver Partner. Together, these partnerships highlight our commitment to working with the best technology providers in the industry, so we can continue to deliver innovative and practical solutions for our clients.