Challenge for the operator
When a major incident occurs on a railway, the impact on passengers can be significant and multifaceted. Passengers may experience delays or cancellations of their journeys, leading to inconvenience and potential missed connections or appointments. Communication can be limited or delayed, leaving passengers uncertain about the situation, their safety, and the status of their travel plans.
Southeastern wanted to address the impact of major incidents with effective crisis management and clear communication for affected passengers.
Solution – RailSmart Information Management System (IMS) adopted
RailSmart IMS is playing a crucial role in modernising railway operations and enhancing the passenger experience when an incident occurs.
The solution has the capability to display a live feed of various incidents, issues, and stranded trains across the network, users can promptly alert stakeholders regarding a diverse range of issues. The incident management feature allows for monitoring and ensuring compliance with regulations regarding the timely provision of information. The comprehensive suite of tools, including service gap, priority trains, and stranded trains, are all standout features in their own regard.
Enhancing customer service
Train operating company Southeastern adopted RailSmart IMS and seen great success, as John Till, Head of Information Delivery at Southeastern, highlights:
“It used to take us a really long time to analyse an incident and understand what the impact was in terms of customer information when we updated channels, etc. Now, this is all done automatically, with very little manual intervention.”
Southeastern have been able to create a single point of truth with real-time journey information and embedded communication tools to improve the operational efficiency of their control room. The IMS solution provides a ‘dashboard view’ with clear, data driven colour coding which presents users with an ‘at-a-glance’ view of key information. From the train operator’s perspective, it has had a positive impact on improving customer service and operational efficiency.
Improved customer experience
The location service gaps tool clearly shows control teams when there has been gaps in extended intervals at a particular train station in the past, active now or forecast later in the day. This is highlighted within the current railway day with colour coding for cancellations or delay type.
The priority trains tool also flags particularly busy periods to users. For example, this could be when school children are travelling, key times for local hospitals or when the first off-peak service will depart. This information can all be loaded onto the system together with details as to why this is a priority train. If this train is to be cancelled, an alert is then generated on the dashboard, ensuring the control room are aware of the impacts of changes to the running status of this train. Tracking this way enables better customer response and enhances the overall customer experience in times of disruption. John Till, Head of Information Delivery at Southeastern, reflects on their use of the IMS system to date:
“The IMS can drill down into details to find out more about particular incidents. This can be generated into a PDF, detailing every single action, how long it took, how long each component was active for and whether information went on the website.
“The information delivery team at Southeastern use the system to highlight active incidents on the network with details of hashtags and the incidents. Details of active customer info and system faults have flashing icons to indicate that they require an update, or an automated email will be sent regarding a particular fault at a specific location.”
One holistic system to access key information
RailSmart IMS provides a comprehensive overview of the number of incidents that caused disruptions in the past year.
This valuable information includes specific details about the location, station, and station management, among other things. By consolidating data from various sources like National Rail Enquiries, this unified system eliminates the need for team members to navigate multiple platforms to access crucial information. In addition, with the Held services feature, users can effectively track and handle their response to stranded trains, ensuring a smooth operation.
The IMS is a continuously evolving system and adapts to the needs of its users as it grows and embeds itself within an organisation. A new service gap feature is launching soon, whereby the system will suggest to controllers, suitable trains that could be used to close any gaps.
