Smital Dhake with the Newcomer of the Year Award at the (UK) Railstaff Awards / Image-LinkedIn

Indian-origin data scientist Smital Dhake was recently named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the annual Railstaff Awards, held in Birmingham, which recognize and honour contributions to the UK railways at all levels.

The 26-year-old, originally from Jalgaon, Maharashtra, went to Watford Grammar School in England for her secondary education before returning to India to earn a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Poona University in 2019. 

Moving back to the UK, she earned  an MSc in Robotics  from King’s College London and after  a short stint with the Embedded Systems group of mobile chip makers, Qualcomm, she joined  France-headquartered  global  transportation specialist, Alstom at  their Hatfield, Hertfordshire base in the UK.

Working  for a customer, UK’s railways, Dhake helped  develop an innovative Modular Advanced Route Setting (M-ARS) system. This is the railways’ first M-ARS system where machine learning techniques are applied to use real-time data which then help  predict future events to enable quicker decision-making. This is useful  for  the resolution of  conflicting train movements, thereby increasing the efficiency of the railways.

The M-ARS system is currently undergoing Network Rail product approval and Dhake is instrumental to the process. Once approved, M-ARS will be delivered on a number of high-profile projects in Britain including Ashford, Cambridge, East West Rail Phase 2 and Victoria Phase 5.

Alstom Design Group Manager, Mifaz Miftha said, “Smital is a fast learner who always finds ways to seek knowledge and grow herself in an exponential manner. She regularly takes on much more complex tasks above her role and delivers them with full commitment and with a high level of accuracy. Her meticulous approach to problem-solving and critical thinking on design have made Smital an asset to Alstom and the wider railway industry where innovation and sustainability are key to growth.”

“Smital is also an enormous inspiration to young women who are thinking of pursuing a career in engineering or the STEM category. She has used her own time to visit numerous schools promoting careers in engineering and sustainability,” Miftha added.

In her spare time Dhake is an evangelist  for STEM (science, technology, engineering mathematics), visiting local schools and also helping structure Alstom’s own STEM work experience programme.

The runner-up award  in the Newcomer of the Year category,  went to  a colleague of Dhake at Alstom, systems engineer Kalen Ruddock. Alstom has a large presence in India with six industrial sites and two engineering centres -- and is involved in supplying rolling stock and other rail equipment, particularly to the metro rail systems.