Case Fintraffic Railway: Preproductization Keeps Railway Safety on Track

Fintraffic Railway Ltd, responsible for railway traffic control and management in Finland, wanted to improve the safety of track work. UnSeen helped assess the feasibility of an out-of-the-box idea, making further development and investment decisions easier.

Challenge: A Great Idea — But Will It Work?

One of Fintraffic Railway’s key responsibilities is ensuring the safety of track work. The human element in safety operations is already at an exceptionally high level — comparable even to demanding tasks performed by astronauts. However, for a company committed to continuous improvement, this was still not enough.

“We wanted to create a separate verification system that ensures track work safety is correctly accounted for in traffic control. The goal was to minimize even the smallest risk of a train entering an area closed for track work,” explains Hannu Viitanen, Development Manager at Fintraffic Railway.

Fintraffic’s traffic control system operates in a tightly closed environment, meaning its data could not be directly utilized. Developing such a legacy system further would also have been prohibitively expensive. However, Viitanen had a bold idea: what if the visual interface produced by the traffic control system could be converted into data using image-based recognition?

Could such an innovative idea be implemented reliably and at a reasonable cost? And could it be tested within an exceptionally tight schedule? To find answers, Viitanen reached out to UnSeen, whose R&D expertise he had heard about through his network.

Solution: Rapid Experimentation and Clear Results

The project began by jointly defining the scope and objectives, after which the work progressed smoothly through regular check-ins. The UnSeen team evaluated different implementation approaches and selected a computer vision–based solution utilizing image recognition algorithms as the most suitable option.

“There was open and straightforward communication with the UnSeen team throughout. They brought exactly the kind of innovative mindset and expertise we needed,” says Viitanen.

The approach followed agile development principles: first proving the concept worked, and then building a test bench for Fintraffic. This environment allowed safe replay and analysis of video feeds without any connection to the production system. After several iterations, the result was a functional Proof of Concept (PoC) demo that clearly demonstrated the solution’s capabilities.

The results and analysis from the test bench were compiled into a clear final report, immediately usable for internal communication and decision-making at Fintraffic.

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Result: Reduced Risks and Clear Next Steps

Testing the idea enabled Fintraffic Rail to move forward with a broader development initiative to improve railway safety. The optimal implementation approach, feasibility, scalability, and cost level were all validated before making investment decisions — reducing both technical and financial risks.

“We achieved all the project goals within the desired schedule and budget — you really can’t ask for more. Now we have comprehensive documentation of what kind of solution would work in our systems,” Viitanen says.

In the next phase of Fintraffic’s development project, the focus will be on further processing the data collected through image-based interpretation. More experimentation and solution exploration are ahead.

“In development work, it’s important not to get stuck on ideas but to quickly determine what works and what doesn’t. Validating ideas before major investments can lead to significant savings. I can recommend UnSeen to anyone needing development and research support for entirely new ideas,” Viitanen adds.

“UnSeen helps create value-driven solutions with the same innovative and development-driven mindset throughout the entire lifecycle — from idea to production,” adds Outi Aalto, Chief Customer Officer at UnSeen.

“In development work, it’s important not to get stuck on ideas but to quickly determine what works and what doesn’t. Validating ideas before major investments can lead to significant savings.”