Commercial proposal to MTR Corporation - August 2026 - FE-MTR-2026-01
Condition-led possession planning
From asset condition to the train timetable, in one traceable, optimised and defensible chain.
The application behind the other tabs of this site is a working demonstrator of the method: a synthetic Sydney Metro model carried from measured and predicted asset condition, through speed restriction, work packaging and possession optimisation, to the resulting train graph. Walk through it in eight stages or build and score a programme. This proposal is how that method becomes an MTR capability, licensed to Metro Trains Sydney and its delivery partners.
01
The challenge
Possession planning is where asset condition, safety criticality, access rules and the timetable all have to agree. Today they agree by hand.
Condition and consequence sit apart
Measured and predicted asset condition, criticality, access rules, blackout windows and timetable impact are reconciled by hand, in separate tools, by the people who know where the exceptions live.
Effort goes into assembly, not optimisation
By the time a programme is assembled there is no room left to test whether a different combination of work in a different set of possessions would have delivered more for less disruption.
The cost lands on the timetable
Deferred safety-critical work becomes speed restriction, speed restriction becomes sectional running time, and running time becomes headway, sets and delay minutes - usually understood only after the fact.
The plan is hard to defend
Without a scored comparison against credible alternatives, a possession programme is difficult to assure to safety management, to the operator and to the regulator.
02
The proposition
Hold the whole chain in one model, generate candidate programmes, and score them - so the plan Metro Trains Sydney delivers is the best one on offer and can be shown to be.
One chain, end to end
Condition, criticality, restriction, work package, possession, governance gate and timetable outcome held in a single model with chainage accurate to 10 mm.
Optimised, not just assembled
Candidate programmes are generated and scored on work delivered against closure hours, delay minutes and deferred safety-critical work.
Defensible by construction
Every plan carries the alternatives it beat, the rules it satisfied and the gates it cleared, which is what turns a plan into an assurance artefact.
Already demonstrated
The other tabs of this application are a working demonstrator on a synthetic Sydney Metro model, built to prove the method before asking MTR to invest in it.
03
Approach: four six-month phases
Each phase stands on its own and ends with something MTR keeps, whether or not the next phase is authorised. Nothing is deployed at scale before it has been proven at small scale.
Phase 1c.6 months
Unpack the challenge, prove the value
Surface the sub-challenges at every operational level, quantify the value of addressing them, and prove the solution on the Sydney network operated by Metro Trains Sydney.
Key activities
- Discovery across the whole value chain, c.300 stakeholders
- Scope, target architecture and development cadence agreed with the MTR development pod
- Four three-week sprints: one setup, three development
- Implementation design, business case and roadmap
Value delivered
- An evidenced, quantified value case owned by MTR, not a vendor claim
- A target architecture agreed by IT, security and data before any build at scale
- Working software proven on the Sydney network, demonstrated at each sprint close
- An implementation plan and roadmap that Phase 2 can be authorised from
AUD 670,000 indicative
Phase 2c.6 months
Parallel run and full implementation plan
Run the solution alongside existing possession planning across a full planning cycle, measure the difference, and turn the Phase 1 roadmap into a costed implementation plan.
Key activities
- Parallel run against live planning cycles, plan-for-plan comparison
- Measured deltas: closure hours, delay minutes, deferred safety-critical work
- Rule set, access rules and blackout calendar calibrated to real Metro Trains Sydney practice
- Full implementation plan, integration design and change approach
Value delivered
- Evidence of benefit from real cycles, in Metro Trains Sydney's own numbers
- Planner confidence built before anything is relied upon
- A costed, resourced implementation plan with the risks already surfaced
Priced on scope confirmation
Phase 3c.6 months
Deploy to one route, refine the plan
Take one route into production use as the planning system of record, and refine the implementation approach on the evidence of doing it once, properly.
Key activities
- Production deployment on a single Sydney route, in the agreed architecture
- Planner training, handover of the rule set and governance gates
- Assurance, audit trail and safety-management sign-off
- Implementation plan refined from the first real deployment
Value delivered
- One route planned this way in production, with realised benefit
- A deployment method proven once rather than assumed four times
- Governance and assurance artefacts accepted by safety management
Priced on scope confirmation
Phase 4c.6 months
Industrialise as an MTR service, deploy across all routes
Roll out across MTR's operations and stand the capability up as a repeatable MTR service, licensed to Metro Trains Sydney and its delivery partners and deployable across MTR's other networks.
Key activities
- Rollout across MTR operations beyond Sydney
- Service operating model: support, release cadence, data operations, ownership
- SaaS licensed to Metro Trains Sydney and its delivery partners, with MTR holding the service
- Packaging as an MTR service offer beyond Sydney
Value delivered
- One condition-led planning method across every MTR operation
- A supported MTR service, licensed to operators rather than rebuilt each time
- An MTR-wide asset with value beyond the Sydney network
Priced on scope confirmation
04
Phase 1 in detail
Around six months of elapsed time in four workstreams, staffed by Patrick Bossert and the MTR development pod, with the discovery load carried by the TaskReimagination.ai agent team.
1
Discovery at scale
12 weeks elapsed, 4 weeks of Patrick's time20 days chargedThe TaskReimagination.ai agent team - a separate discovery and value-proposition service developed by Future Edge Consulting - interviews around 300 stakeholders across the complete value chain: operations, maintenance delivery, possession planning, safety management, data, commercial, and the partners and external stakeholders that possessions affect, including local authorities. The macro challenge and the approach are already defined; this demonstrator is that definition. What discovery adds is the sub-challenges sitting inside each step, the frustrations felt at different operational levels, and the value of addressing them - so the end solution works for everyone it touches, not only for the planners.
Outputs
- Stakeholder-evidenced statement of what must be addressed, by operational level
- Value hypotheses with the numbers behind them
- Frustration and friction map across the value chain
2
Scope and architecture definition
4 weeks20 days chargedWorking directly with the MTR development pod to fix what is being built and where it runs: application scope, meaning the extent of the value chain covered and the asset types modelled; target architecture across compute, security, data and business continuity; and the development cycle cadence the pod will work to.
Outputs
- Agreed scope: value-chain extent and asset-type extent
- Target architecture, signed off by IT, security and data
- Sprint cadence, environments and ways of working
3
Build: four three-week sprints
12 weeks60 days chargedOne setup sprint to stand up environments, data feeds and the pipeline, then three development sprints building against the agreed scope. Each sprint closes with working software demonstrated to the pod and its stakeholders, so scope decisions are taken against something real rather than a document.
Outputs
- Setup sprint: environments, data ingestion, deployment pipeline
- Three development sprints, each with a demonstrated increment
- Working software proven on Metro Trains Sydney data, against MTR scope
4
Implementation design, business case and roadmap
3 weeks15 days chargedThe artefact Phase 2 is authorised from: how the solution is implemented, what it costs, what it returns, and the sequence in which it is delivered across the network.
Outputs
- Implementation design
- Business case with benefits traced back to discovery evidence
- Roadmap through Phases 2 to 4
05
Team and governance
One external principal, one internal pod, decisions taken where the accountability already sits.
Patrick Bossert
Principal, Future Edge Consulting
Infrastructure strategist specialising in data and AI-led transformation across transport, energy, utilities and defence. Thirty years at executive and board level with critical national infrastructure organisations. Electronic engineer, former director of the Institute of Asset Management, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
- Digital Transformation Director, Digital Railway (Network Rail): led the UK ETCS digital signalling business case and secured first-phase pilot funding, now operational on the East Coast Main Line.
- Director, Asset Information, Network Rail: established a network-wide digital twin and led ORBIS, bringing 22,000 frontline staff into digital working.
- Chief Strategy, Data and Innovation Officer, Essential Energy: accountable for the design and delivery governance of a $330m transformation programme.
- Contributed to the development of the ISO 55001 asset management standard as an IAM board member.
MTR development pod
Phase 1 is delivered by Patrick alongside an MTR development pod. The pod is not a steering group: it is the working team, and its members carry the decisions in their own functions.
- IT and architectureCompute, security, integration and business continuity
- Business processHow planning actually runs today, and what must change
- Possession planningAccess rules, spacing, worksite reality, planner acceptance
- Maintenance deliveryWork durations, resourcing, plant and deliverability
- Safety managementIsolation, safe approach distance, assurance and gate criteria
- Domain expertiseTrack, foundation, OLE and CBTC engineering standards
- DataCondition feeds, timetable data, quality and stewardship
- CommercialBenefit definition, business case ownership, contracting route
Governance is deliberately light: a sprint review every three weeks with the pod and its stakeholders, and a single phase gate at the end of Phase 1 where the business case is taken forward or the value case is banked and work stops.
06
Value delivered, phase by phase
The test for every phase is the same: what does MTR hold at the end of it that has value even if nothing else follows?
| Phase | What MTR holds at the end of it | Duration |
|---|
| Phase 1Unpack the challenge, prove the value | - An evidenced, quantified value case owned by MTR, not a vendor claim
- A target architecture agreed by IT, security and data before any build at scale
- Working software proven on the Sydney network, demonstrated at each sprint close
- An implementation plan and roadmap that Phase 2 can be authorised from
| c.6 months |
| Phase 2Parallel run and full implementation plan | - Evidence of benefit from real cycles, in Metro Trains Sydney's own numbers
- Planner confidence built before anything is relied upon
- A costed, resourced implementation plan with the risks already surfaced
| c.6 months |
| Phase 3Deploy to one route, refine the plan | - One route planned this way in production, with realised benefit
- A deployment method proven once rather than assumed four times
- Governance and assurance artefacts accepted by safety management
| c.6 months |
| Phase 4Industrialise as an MTR service, deploy across all routes | - One condition-led planning method across every MTR operation
- A supported MTR service, licensed to operators rather than rebuilt each time
- An MTR-wide asset with value beyond the Sydney network
| c.6 months |
07
Commercial
Phase 1 is priced in full. Phases 2 to 4 are scoped here and priced at their phase gate, once the preceding phase has told us what they should contain.
| Item | Elapsed | Days | Fee |
|---|
| 1. Discovery, c.300 stakeholders | 12 weeks | 20 | AUD 100,000 |
| TaskReimagination.ai agent team licenceAnnual licence, covers the discovery capability for the engagement year | Annual | - | AUD 95,000 |
| 2. Scope and architecture | 4 weeks | 20 | AUD 100,000 |
| 3. Build, 4 x 3-week sprints | 12 weeks | 60 | AUD 300,000 |
| 4. Implementation design, business case, roadmap | 3 weeks | 15 | AUD 75,000 |
| Phase 1 total | c.6 months | 115 | AUD 670,000 |
- All figures are indicative and confirmed at the scoping session. Patrick's time is calculated at AUD 5,000 per day.
- Discovery runs for 12 weeks elapsed but consumes four weeks of Patrick's time, because the agent team carries the interview load.
- Workstreams 1 and 2 overlap, which is how 31 weeks of workstream duration fits inside a phase of around six months.
- MTR development pod time is not charged. Phases 2 to 4 are priced on scope confirmation at each phase gate.
- The resultant SaaS solution will be joint intellectual property between MTR and Future Edge Consulting, with licensing model terms to be agreed. Metro Trains Sydney and its delivery partners will be licensees of the SaaS solution.
08
The product, IP and licensing
What the partnership owns, what each party keeps, and how PossessionPlanner is licensed to Metro Trains Sydney, its delivery partners and third parties.
PossessionPlanner
possessionplanner.com - Condition to timetable, in one optimised chain.
The joint venture output is a named product, not a bespoke internal tool. PossessionPlanner is the SaaS platform that carries asset condition through speed restriction, work packaging and possession optimisation to the resulting train graph. Metro Trains Sydney is the first licensee; the same product is then licensed to MTR operations and third parties.
Joint ownership
The platform, its data model and its optimisation logic are joint intellectual property of MTR Corporation and Future Edge Consulting, created under Phases 1 to 4.
Background IP retained
Future Edge Consulting retains its pre-existing method, agent tooling and demonstrator codebase. MTR retains its standards, rule sets and operational data. Neither transfers by using the platform.
Operator data stays with the operator
Condition, possession and timetable data loaded by a licensee remains that licensee's property. Rule sets configured by a licensee are theirs; the engine that runs them is joint IP.
Brand and product rights
The PossessionPlanner name and domain are held for the joint venture, so the product can be taken to market outside MTR without renaming or rework.
| Licensee | Basis | Terms |
|---|
| Metro Trains Sydney | Founding licensee, per-route subscription | Perpetual, non-exclusive right to operational use across Sydney Metro routes, at preferential founding-licensee rates in recognition of the data and pod time contributed in Phases 1 to 3. |
| MTS delivery partners | Named-seat sub-licence, sponsored by MTS | Read and plan access scoped to the packages and possessions a partner is contracted to deliver, on MTS's tenancy, with no rights to the underlying model. |
| Other MTR operations | Internal group licence | MTR deploys the industrialised service to further operations at internal transfer rates agreed at the Phase 4 gate, with Future Edge Consulting taking a royalty share. |
| Third-party operators and owners | Commercial SaaS subscription | Sold jointly under the PossessionPlanner brand, with revenue shared on terms agreed at the Phase 2 gate. Either party may originate a sale; both approve any competitor of the other. |
- Licence terms, revenue split and royalty rates are heads-of-terms items, agreed alongside the Phase 2 authorisation rather than at signature of Phase 1.
- Phase 1 proceeds under a mutual NDA and an IP heads of agreement covering joint ownership of anything created in the phase.
- Source code is escrowed for every licensee, so operational continuity is not dependent on either party.
09
Assumptions, exclusions and next steps
Assumptions
- The MTR development pod is available for the cadence agreed in workstream 2, including a nominated pod lead.
- Access to Sydney condition, possession, timetable and asset data is granted by Metro Trains Sydney within the first four weeks.
- Environments and toolchain are provided by MTR under the agreed target architecture.
- Stakeholder introductions for discovery are facilitated by MTR and Metro Trains Sydney, including partners and external bodies.
Exclusions
- Third-party software, cloud and data platform licence or consumption costs.
- Metro Trains Sydney staff time, and MTR development pod time (not charged).
- Travel and expenses, charged at cost where required outside Greater Sydney.
- Production support beyond the Phase 1 sprint demonstrations.
Next steps
- A 90-minute working session with the MTR development pod sponsor to confirm Phase 1 scope and the discovery stakeholder map.
- Confirm the agent team licence start date so discovery can begin within two weeks of that session.
- Nominate the pod lead and the eight pod roles, and agree the phase gate criteria.
Commercial in confidence. Prepared by Future Edge Consulting for MTR Corporation. Figures are indicative and subject to confirmation at the scoping session. The application hosting this proposal is a demonstrator built on open source and synthetic data, and is not to be used for engineering decision-making.
