Rail Operations Skills for the Twenty First Century
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www.railwayoperators.co.uk Issue 47 | April 2021 THE BIANNUAL MAGAZINE FOR MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTION OF RAILWAY OPERATORS IRO here for you, supporting your Rail operations skills development Within 24 hours of the first Covid lockdown being announced, IRO had for the twenty first “ungated” access to our Professional Operators Development (POD) tool, ensuring that it could be reached by everyone in rail and not just members and the employees of century corporate members. We predicted that online resources for self-development would be useful for those isolating or furloughed. We made them free Fiona Tordoff Rachel Heath and they have been widely taken up. Not only AIRO FIRO has IRO membership been increasing we have also experienced a growing number of enquiries coming through from engineers and Fiona Tordoff IRO’s CEO and Rachel Heath, IRO Midlands Area Chair reflect on the important other disciplines who are interested in joining. contribution made by operations to the success of our railways and the vital part our profession must Just before second lockdown, IRO launched Rail Academy (RA), offering online rail play in taking the rail industry forward… operations learning with unlimited potential Believe it or not Railway Operations is a more for customisation by employers, again putting established profession than many of us think - learning within arm’s reach of anyone working as old as the engineering disciplines that it sits in rail. alongside. Ever since the first railways were built, Because of restrictions, we moved our area operators and engineers have worked side by side, events programme online with free monthly and it is well over 200 years since the first rule book webinars broadcasting to regular audiences was published! of over two hundred people. This may surprise many, because when you look Look out for new membership services at IRO alongside its engineering counterparts you coming this year. Members have a big say in may think that it is quite recent. We were after all the products and services we provide. There celebrating our 21st birthday only last year, and yet is an app in the pipeline to put the POD in the IET is over 150 years old! your pocket, a new RA hosted game to test In labour market terms, after building a railway, your learning in a fun, interactive environment the engineers tended to move on to build another, and the team are working on CPD materials whereas the operators stayed put to make it work. to help Associates, Members and Fellows get The mobility of engineers became one of the ready for the exciting times ahead! reasons they needed to enshrine their standards and professional worth with a recognisable Make sure you don’t miss out on new mark. And so, the great engineering professional developments by adding IRO and Rail institutions were helpfully created and continue to Academy to your safe senders list, that way serve their purpose to this day. the diagram, you also need West and HS2, more opportunities to reconfigure they won’t end up unseen on your junk folder. to seek understanding of the the operating model for the railways of the future. To mark sender as safe, select the message Meanwhile, as they needed less candidate other areas or be at risk of In this new world, professional competence has and click on ‘not spam’ or similar label comparability – and were well cared for by the making poor decisions with national management of ops training in their never been so important. Because of the newly depending on your email provider. trade-off costs you never emerging structures and altered lines single large employer (as by then they had been knew about. of command which will emerge, we must also learn nationalised) - the operators did not seek to operations knowledge and skillset with new ways establish their own professional institution. It was A quick anatomy lesson the rules of the new playing field quickly. on the POD will show you of thinking and managing, to successfully lead only when the national skillset of operations was POD updated for 21st the change. threatened by the fragmentation of the industry that we do not stick to our To be a good operator going over 20 years ago, that a group of enlightened lane too much either. The Century railways will headings on the right-hand forward, the knowledge needed founders created the beginnings of a professional address this. side of the diagram (from across the many interfaces of institution - the IRO. So, although the IRO itself is a Imagine the current circle 12 to six o’clock) are what rail will be broad and detailed young and agile organisation, the profession that it being enveloped by a thick we associate with classical at the same time because supports is a lot older. ring of new competences operations. knowing what should occur Effectively, IRO was set up to curate the national such as change between different parts of skill set of railway operations at a time when it was Moving into the management, innovation, next section (6 the railway will be essential threatened by the fragmentation of the industry system thinking, process to the continuous, smooth and today its central purpose remains strong and to 9 o’clock) you improvement and deep will notice some running of the railway much in demand. It has attracted more and more contextual knowledge of rail system. Your professional members over time, who all have several things in ‘engineering’ based operations. By adopting new elements of the rail Institution is with you all the common: they identify strongly with their profession ways of thinking and working, system. Not every way as you respond to the and they have a commitment to self-improvement informed by our understanding operator needs the public confidence, economic and peer support. At a time when there is so much of the traditional elements, there knowledge of a and organisational challenges of change in rail and so much opportunity for further is much we can do to infuse our today, wherever you work. improvement, chartered engineer, we are delivering structured professional but it is important development to enable delivery at the scale and to understand the key elements indicated here. pace required across our sector and to be effective The final quadrant of the POD in a wider range of situations than we may have relates to why and how we run been used to. our railways: the commercial context, the business So, what do we mean by context, the way we use operations? people, and the way we IRO’s Professional Operators’ Development tool, change our organisation POD for short, breaks down into twelve generic and our industry. headings each containing multiple levels of The rail sector is going knowledge, skillsets, careers, and jobs. We have through massive mapped these into a visual that can be used change the world quickly for explaining everything you need to know over - not just due to the pandemic. In the UK about being a good operator. work continues to provide more clarity on how We believe that you cannot be a good operator rail will be organised to address its challenges. unless you have an appreciation of the interlinked We can guess that parts of the solution may knowledge around you. To be effective today it involve: decentralisation and regionalisation; a new is not enough to focus on just one or two areas. specifying body; more integrated track and train Whilst you need depth in some of the portions of decision-making; and with the new railways of East Image by ”https://pixabay.com/users/jonpauling-19157087 02 Issue 47 | April 2021 Features Faster Rail A Solution for Australia Paul Sutherland FIRO, MCILT Director Rail Operations and Maintenance, Network Rail Consulting, and IRO Australia & New Zealand Area Chair. Australia has seen a five-fold There are four elements made the line competitive and relevant for population growth in 100 years. of Faster Rail. the time. It has a stable economy and three By the early 1960s the new motorway system Infrastructure improvement: Targeting was completed, passenger levels were low, major eastern state capitals with infrastructure improvements by looking at the and the line was in a poor state of repair. networks around those states, business case for investment will help identify The investment this time was in electrification but public transport, especially which improvement will give the best output and sustained 160km/h running. This was for the investment. The desired outputs are a success story and dubbed “the Sparks rail, outside of the metro areas higher line speed and reduced journey time. Effect”, which captured the public’s is extremely limited. The Federal Improvements could include easement of imagination with the modernism of the 1960’s Government has established curves, improvement of turnouts, increased set against the traditional steam railway. power supplied, strengthening of bridges and In the 1970s the small improvement was a Faster Rail Agency and state new signalling systems. completion of the electrification to Glasgow, governments are looking at local Improved rolling stock could include which was affordable at the time with a low Faster Rail Networks. High Speed increased acceleration and deceleration, level of investment. This was accompanied Rail (HSR) and Faster Rail are reduced weight, more efficiency, bio-modal fuel by a timetable rebuild, rebranding of the terms used when discussing rail options and increased crash worthiness. These “Electric Scot” that allowed for sustained elements aim to deliver improved sectional 160 km/h speeds and a more competitive development but what do they running times. journey on the north sections of the line.