This year, one of our Year 12 students, Luca, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Big Bang Competition 2025, entering the Transport Special Award sponsored by Network Rail. The brief challenged students to “solve a problem to improve the Network.”

Luca’s project, titled ‘Smart Station’, proposed a set of smart solutions to be implemented at train stations serving Premiership football grounds. These upgrades, alongside a companion app, would provide real-time updates to travellers — a feature especially useful during busy match days. The app would inform users about station crowding, ticket office availability, lift and toilet functionality, and whether or not the station is part of the Smart Station network.

Luca was inspired by research into a civil engineering solution for Selhurst Station, prompted by the upcoming expansion of the Crystal Palace Football Ground. During this work, he discovered that while journey planning services often benefit from smart technology, the stations themselves are frequently overlooked — a gap he aimed to bridge with his innovative idea.

Being a finalist in such a highly competitive national competition is a fantastic achievement, and Luca has already received some outstanding feedback from the judges:

“I want to say a huge congratulations to Luca for his brilliant project ‘Smart Station’! The judge really enjoyed reading through Luca’s entry, and was really impressed with the creativity, problem finding and solving, and passion displayed throughout!”

We would like to wish Luca the very best of luck at the awards ceremony in June, when the winner will be announced.