Rail Professional articles

Each month the Institution features in Rail Professional and here a some archived articles.

The weather man

Previously published in Rail Professional Magazine – April 2006

By Steve Scott, National Weather Strategy Specialist, Network Rail

October 27, 2002 will be a date that is forever imprinted on my memory. The gales that tore through central and southern England that Sunday left a very large hole in the rail industry’s reputation as well as its network. Like the novice boxer it had no sooner picked itself up when the killer punch arrived and the knockout was complete.

Monday 28 October witnessed widespread suspension of train services due to the most severe leaf contamination seen since the hurricane of 1987. The new senior management team at Network Rail, it may be recalled, had been in office for just three weeks. They could have been forgiven for thinking of the inevitable jokes at their expense about the ability of a humble leaf or two bringing an entire network to a halt!

One maxim about the way Network Rail goes about its business is nicely summed up in the phrase ‘out of adversity comes opportunity’. An opportunity to do things better and to make better people out of that opportunity – and it works! New processes, improved communication, investment in people and machinery, and perhaps significantly the support of managers at the very top have been combined to up our game plan.

Importantly it is NOT about the management of weather – better people than I have tried and failed with that one, but it is about managing the impact of weather or about mitigating the impact of extreme weather. As events on the US Gulf Coast demonstrated last summer there comes a point when you shut down the railway and literally move out of town. Why? Because, if you can’t do something safely, then you shouldn’t be doing it at all. The ‘tally ho’ style of leadership and ‘we love fire fighting’ attitude has no place in today’s railway. The aim is to manage down and if possible manage out the risk. A fare paying customer who starts their journey should do so with the expectation that they will complete it safely.

If the storms of 2002 acted as a catalyst for change then more recent weather patterns are an ever present reminder that our climate is presenting us with new risks and fresh challenges. Also new is the ‘Railway Operational Code’ under which railway group members must determine and then action matters relating to seasonal preparation and their response to forecasts of adverse or extreme weather.

Within Network Rail there is now a dedicated small team at the centre led by the writer and an extended arm team comprising of a dedicated co-ordinator in each of the eight routes – a far cry from the part time and inconsistent approach of four or five years ago. Also in the wake of those October storms came an independent review and calls for improved warning of impending disruption due to weather related events. Network Rail took the initiative by setting a new company specification, a truly proactive approach to be adopted and increased ownership of issues to the wider community of supporting functions, such as commercial and corporate communications.

Seasonal calendars, Extreme Weather Action Teams (EWAT), double red alerts are just part of the new vocabulary. As processes go they are not in themselves necessarily new. However, today’s management style is often about reworking good local practice into a network approach and using state of the art media for getting the right message into the minds of those who make the real time calls but in advance of the actual event.

Delivery has to sit at route and area level and as with any safety related work it is important to embed this activity into people’s day job. Whether you are involved with maintenance, engineering or any other support function, there are few roles untouched by seasonal preparation and weather mitigation activity. Equipment plays a key role as well and for network-wide activity, such as train-borne railhead treatment, the focus is the National Delivery Service team based in York.

Substantial investment has been made over the last five years to replace life expired or increasingly fragile heritage equipment. There is now a fleet of 32 self propelled multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) and 22 sets of wagons called rail head treatment trains (RHTTs) which are operated between pairs of locomotives in top ‘n’ tail fashion. Both types of train are modular in concept, with some units delivering a ‘de-icing’ service to the third rail in DC electrified lines territory whilst other parts of the fleet are readied for the annual war on weeds.

A recurring issue for the industry has emerged again this winter, the challenge which some new electric trains have coping with snow and ice. Network Rail is working vigorously with the rest of the rail industry to minimise the effects of winter weather on such new technology. It is small consolation to the end user (the fare paying customer or freight shipper) but we, as an industry, are determined to deliver higher levels of performance in all weather conditions.

Our ability to manage some of our more extreme weather events has seen new challenges in recent years. Take the operation of snow clearance equipment. A census was undertaken last summer to discover just how many hands had actual experience of ploughing in real snow drifts. Such has been the dearth of deep snow events in the last fifteen years or so we have almost exhausted the industry’s combined expertise in this field. Anecdotal stories are no help under leaden skies with sub-zero temperatures.

Network Rail has already started the process of finding solutions. Visits have been taking place to our European counterparts who experience wintry conditions on a regular basis. By studying their most effective methods, investing in the cutting-edge technology and combining with our current methods, the industry is well on its way to being even better prepared with whatever Mother Nature may throw at us.

Understanding and managing the risk presented by seasonal variation and extreme weather is just as crucial to delivery of the PPM target as it is to maintaining a safe network. As a result Network Rail has become a much more demanding customer with suppliers of weather forecasting services. A 5-day outlook weather forecast has been developed together with a three stage ‘coloured’ alert status to provide early warning of potentially adverse conditions.

Getting one step ahead can make a real difference, but the reality remains as clear as it ever was and that is Mother Nature herself. If you think you have got her beat …
…then think again!

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