The strategy has been created to ensure that the railway is in the best position to handle the operational and engineering challenges for capacity and safety at the PTI, both now and in the future. It is an excellent example of how to establish consistent industry approaches to complex issues - looking at data, human factors, operations and engineering matters.
So what does the strategy hope to achieve? It will look at key issues affecting the industry today and in the future, including:
- Passenger movements through the station and across the PTI.
- Train stopping positions, dispatch, monitoring the dispatch corridor, and stopping once dispatched, including the management of doors.
- Optimising the step gap.
- Improving accessibility.
The strategy intends to generate:
- Improvements in industry’s data and intelligence gathering on incidents.
- Better knowledge sharing between companies about good practice.
- A new tool for companies to use, to assess the specific risks they need to manage in their own operational environments.
- Improved public, passenger and workforce awareness of the issues surrounding the PTI.
An action plan for delivery has also been created. This plan will provide a framework for what can be achieved in the short, medium and long term. The group of industry representatives selected to generate the strategy will continue to oversee its deployment and champion its implementation.
A series of PTI risk reduction targets have been established. These are the outcomes from a combination of cross-industry workshops, to build a better picture of what specific mitigation activities can be undertaken and where they will have the biggest impact.
The Platform Train Interface Strategy Implementation Group (PTISIG) composed of representatives from Network Rail, train operating companies, rolling stock companies, the Office of Rail and Road, the Department for Transport and London Underground, will continue to meet throughout 2015. The focus of these meetings will be to maintain the momentum of the strategy and ensure it delivers benefits to industry.
The Strategy is available to download from the Rail Hub at www.railreview.com.
