Keeping British Trains on Track with PDF

By Michael Peters · Published April 8, 2026

This case study was originally published by the Adobe Solutions Network as a Partners at Work success story.

The Client

Network Rail (formerly Railtrack) is the organisation responsible for maintaining railway infrastructure across the United Kingdom, including track, signalling, bridges, tunnels, and stations.

The Problem

Every week, Network Rail publishes Weekly Operating Notices (WONs) detailing conditions on every mile of track in the country — maintenance work, line closures, signalling problems, speed restrictions, and more. This is safety-critical information that train drivers need while operating their services.

Before Mapsoft's involvement, the process was entirely paper-based:

• Each train operating company (TOC) received a complete set of WONs covering the entire country
• This enormous document was then furnished to individual train drivers
• Drivers had to sift through the full national document while simultaneously operating a train at up to 125 mph to find information relevant to their specific route

The system was unwieldy, slow, and potentially dangerous — the information was there, but finding it quickly enough to be useful was the problem.

The Solution

Mapsoft designed and built WONView, a custom Adobe Acrobat-based solution that automated the entire process of extracting, filtering, and distributing route-specific safety information.

How it works:

1. Weekly PDF generation — WONView generates an Adobe PDF file for every Network Rail area, collectively containing all maintenance, closure, signalling, and speed restriction information across the UK
2. Automatic route extraction — the system searches each area file and extracts only the information relevant to a specific route
3. Per-company books — separate, compact books are created for each train operating company, containing only what their drivers need to know
4. Secure distribution — drivers receive printouts of their own route-specific books for quick reference in the cab

Why PDF

The choice of Adobe PDF was driven by the safety-critical nature of the information:

• Document integrity — PDF can be password protected to maintain the original document's integrity. Information can be extracted from a secure file and reconfigured into a new secure file, ensuring only authorised personnel have access
• Compact file size — WONs are published weekly and need to be distributed rapidly across the network. PDF files are compact enough for fast upload and download
• Exact reproduction — PDF retains all fonts, formatting, images, and layout intact, so the WONs maintain railway document standards and print exactly as intended across the TOCs' broad range of hardware and software

The Results

• Drivers receive only what they need — instead of a thick national document, each driver gets a compact, route-specific book
• Faster access to safety information — critical track conditions can be found in seconds rather than minutes of searching
• Automated weekly production — the entire extraction and distribution process runs automatically, replacing manual collation
• Secure and standards-compliant — password-protected PDFs ensure document integrity while maintaining railway document standards
• TOCs gain visibility — train operating companies can easily access specific files to review repair work and maintenance in their areas

"When you're driving a train at 125 miles per hour, the last thing you want to do is hunt through a big thick book covering the whole country searching for information about track conditions on your specific route. You need to be able to quickly access the latest updates on what's happening on your particular piece of line."

Michael Peters, Technical Director, Mapsoft

Technology Used

• Adobe Acrobat SDK for PDF generation, extraction, and security
• Custom search and extraction engine for route-specific content filtering
• Automated weekly batch processing pipeline

Need a Similar Solution?

If your organisation distributes safety-critical or compliance documentation and needs to extract, filter, and redistribute content from large documents automatically, we can help. Mapsoft has over 30 years of experience building custom PDF solutions for leading organisations worldwide.