Safety notices now reach every driver in minutesVerify - and are signed off on the platform, in a tunnel, or anywhere with no signal at all.
Year
2023–2025
Services
Mobile & web app
Sector
Rail
Type
iOS, Android, Web
The outcome
3.5min
from notice issued to driver acknowledged, was 2 working days
98%
safety notices signed off within shift, was untracked
100m
passenger journeys a year depending on the briefing chain
The challenge
Reliable and secure distribution
ScotRail needed a reliable way to distribute safety-critical notices to train drivers – ensuring no detail was missed, even in areas of poor connectivity.
Scotland’s network runs through glens, tunnels and coastline where mobile signal simply stops. A notice that can’t be opened is a notice that hasn’t been issued, and a sign-off that can’t be recorded is a compliance gap nobody can see. Briefings are depot-specific and traction-specific — a Class 43 HST notice is meaningless to a driver who isn’t HST trained, and burying it in a general feed is how the important one gets missed.
Zudu's role:
Product design, mobile & web build, integration
Status:
Live, in daily operational use
The platform
Built for the worst signal on the network
Three screens carry the whole system: what’s outstanding, signing it off with no connection, and who has read what.
Every driver sees only the notices for their depot and traction, with what still needs signing counted at the top.
The full notice is already on the device. Sign-off keeps the moment it happened, not the moment it uploaded.
Validity window, notice type, read and sign status — so a manager can find the four people who haven't signed.
01 · Control
Multi-level permissions
Tiered upload and approval rights, so a notice reaches exactly the drivers it applies to and nobody has to filter it themselves.
02 · Reach
Offline by default
Notices sync and cache ahead of the shift. Reading and signing off never depend on the signal where the train happens to be.
03 · Proof
Auditable analytics
Every read and sign-off is timestamped and reportable, and the platform pushes into ScotRail’s existing systems rather than beside them.
The results
Safety improvements, measured
The results were immediate — notices could be distributed instantly and tracked in real time, driving measurable improvements in safety compliance across Scotland’s rail network. Today the app is a trusted part of daily operations, relied upon by ScotRail drivers across the country.
Two years on, it is the route by which every safety-critical notice reaches the cab.
