Smital Dhake was born in Jalgaon and went to Watford Grammar School and King’s College London for his higher education. He is currently the first and sole data scientist at the massive mobility company Alstom. At a ceremony in Birmingham, a British Indian data scientist from Maharashtra was named the UK’s RailStaff Awards 2023’s Newcomer of the Year winner. Smital Dhake was born in Jalgaon and went to Watford Grammar School and King’s College London for his higher education. He is currently the first and sole data scientist at the massive mobility company Alstom.
The 26-year-old, who works at Alstom’s Hatfield branch in eastern England, says her grandparents gave her the motivation to work hard. She hopes to further her education and use her abilities to advance engineering innovations. According to Mifaz Miftha, Design Group Manager at Alstom, “Smital is a fast learner who always finds ways to seek knowledge and grow herself in an exponential manner,” she stated following last month’s award event.
“She consistently accepts far more difficult assignments beyond the scope of her position and completes them accurately and fully. Smital’s critical thinking and methodical approach to problem-solving have made her a valuable asset to Alstom and the larger railway sector, where innovation and sustainability are essential for expansion, he stated. Additionally, the young scientist is referred to as a “enormous inspiration” for young women considering a career in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Miftha continued, “Smital has visited multiple schools on her own time to promote careers in engineering and sustainability.” The RailStaff Awards were established in 2007 to honour the hard work of those who work in the rail sector and to express gratitude to all those who contribute to the UK’s railway system, from engineers to station personnel and drivers to cleaners. Being the only national award programme exclusively for rail workers in the UK, they frequently feature tales of lives saved, careers restored, and hardships overcome.
Smital started working on the cutting-edge Modular Advanced Route Setting (M-ARS) system at Alstom’s Hertfordshire headquarters when he joined the company’s Digital and Integrated Systems (D&IS) UK signalling division. The first M-ARS system for the UK railways uses machine learning, or reinforcement learning, techniques to predict future events. This allows for quicker decision-making to settle conflicting train movements, hence improving the railway’s efficiency.
