Practitioner viewpoint

The UK railway boasts one of the best safety records in the world. Over the decades, we have diligently applied lessons from incidents to drive continual improvement, significantly reducing the likelihood of major incidents. However, due to the nature of railway operations, the potential impact of any incident remains significant, necessitating ongoing safety improvement. Traditionally, this process has been driven by incident data analysis. However, as our safety management system matures and incidents become less frequent, we need to adopt new drivers for improvement.

A senior freight colleague recently described the sector as a “data-rich, fact-free environment,” which really resonated with me. Across the UK railway, we gather data diligently, but often it is merely stored away or used to feed KPI reports for stakeholders. This approach is not working for us or driving proactive safety improvement.

To establish truly proactive learning, we need to evaluate the performance of key risk mitigation measures. No mitigation is perfect (think of the holes in James Reason’s Swiss cheese model), but by understanding the normal parameters of effective operation and using data to detect deviations, we can address underlying issues and restore optimal operation, thus preventing incidents. Investigation and root cause analysis then allow us to optimise these mitigations, driving proactive incremental improvements in our overall risk management strategy.

This precursor-led approach is essential for maintaining continual improvement and proportionate risk management for high-consequence, low-likelihood events in a mature safety system. However, establishing a framework for precursor monitoring requires significant effort.

The UK railway developed a Precursor Indicator Model (PIM) for infrastructure risk over a decade ago. It has become a cornerstone of the risk management approach adopted by Network Rail and its contractors. PIMs mature with age, becoming more effective and accurate as more data is fed into them. However, they need to be managed and curated to remain effective.

The RSSB, which developed and still curates the infrastructure PIM, has recently begun a collaborative project with the Freight Sector to develop a new PIM for Freight Operations.

There is a perception that freight presents a significant risk to the rail network. Initial analysis using the Taking Safe Decisions model has countered this, but freight incidents can undoubtedly result in significant safety and operational impacts. Therefore, it makes sense to harness the available data to take a more informed view and use precursors to identify issues before incidents occur.

Good quality data is essential, and the introduction of Safe Insights has made it easier for operators and other stakeholders to share data while protecting commercially sensitive information. We are even setting up APIs to facilitate automated data sharing, reducing the overhead of data entry.

It will take time, effort, and a consistent flow of data for the new Freight PIM to become truly effective. The project is led by a cross-sector group of operational leaders, facilitated by RSSB’s subject matter experts. The framework is developing well, and the collaboration is already yielding new insights and ideas for safety improvement.

Freight is the only truly commercially competitive part of the railway, but it is encouraging to see that this does not hinder shared learning when it comes to safety. Most of our work is heavy, dirty, and functional, but we are a vital part of the UK supply chain. Growing rail freight is essential for the UK to meet its decarbonisation goals, and by harnessing the power of data to reduce the likelihood of incidents, we will support a safer and more reliable railway, encouraging this vital modal shift.

I am proud to sponsor this important project, and it is great to see freight leading in digital transformation too!  I’m looking forward to a fact rich future railway, where data enables risk optimisation and operational excellence.

Louise Ward is group director ESG and projects at Heavy Haul Rail Limited. For more information, visit www.heavyhaulrail.co.uk