Operational challenges to managing competency
London North Eastern Railway (LNER), like many operators, realise that to effectively manage competency is challenging. Business risk, incidents, efficiency, and performance are recurring issues operators come up against. When it comes to competency management, traditional approaches revolve around inefficient paperwork and manual methods which don’t give users the needed oversight for effective management.
Another key challenge is the need for competency management in a range of situations, from station to driver cab. RailSmart EDS tackles these issues and supports operators like LNER to accelerate performance and drive competency-based people development.
Designed with efficiency in mind, RailSmart EDS enables its users to lower business risk and reduce incident rates through digital-based, reliable competency management.
Improving safety and performance for LNER
Over the last seven years, we’ve worked in collaboration with LNER to implement RailSmart EDS and drive vital improvements across safety and performance, with resounding success.
“We have been using RailSmart EDS for the last 7 years and it has made a significant change to our business. Bringing in an electronic system means we have a better oversight of our competency management arrangement, allows us to work with teams and provides all records in front of us on screen.”
– Melanie Sewell, Safety & Environment Programme Manager, LNER
Delivering the solution
Our EDS solution enables clear organisation and oversight for users, creating a smoother, consistent, and structured process, driving significant operational improvements.
No longer do teams have to file complicated paperwork or travel up and down the country to review files. Our solution acts as a digital hub of information which can be accessed at the office, onboard an LNER train and beyond. This drastically saves time and reduces the administrative burden of compliance, compared to legacy paper-based systems and competitor solutions.
With EDS, information flows easily, supporting crucial decision making which is imperative for safety and efficient operations in a safety-critical environment like rail.
We understood early on that LNER required a solution that works effectively in a variety of contexts, which is why the system can be used anywhere from depot audits to driver assessments. It enables users to collect key information from competency interactions including assessments, observations, eLearning and more.
“My number one priority is looking at the competency of our drivers and as RailSmart EDS is an electronic system, I always have information at hand and can look at competency with ease. Every driver manager, every station assessor, every train manager assessor uses RailSmart EDS – even our training team now use it.”
– Simon Reading, Driver Team Manager, LNER
Looking to the future
Looking ahead, our collaborative approach sees us working flexibly with LNER to further enhance the system. This makes the most of the data they have at their fingertips to drive digital improvements across their organisation, making a positive change today and for the future.
