Network March 2015

march 2015The magazine for our people

Also...Snow problem – dealing with the harsh winter

Passengers in focus – what keeps rail users happy?Storm troopers – what local residents think of the orange army

Good neighbourshow we’re improving relations with our lineside neighbours

2network / March 2015

March 2015

You can read Network in print or online at http://goo.gl/vfCa1o

Designed bybeetroot.co.uk

Get in tOUCHinternal.communications @networkrail.co.uk

Sallie Bates,infrastructure maintenance protection coordinator

100% Network is a carbon neutral publication printed on Cocoon Silk (130gsm) 100% recycled stock. Do your bit and recycle Network.

Contributor’s welcome

What’s making news across the business

network knowledge

Time To ChangeWe have publicly pledged our commitment to the Time to Change campaign in partnership with leading mental health charity MIND, with the aim of eliminating stigma surrounding mental health.

Chris Jones, head of health and wellness strategy, said: “With one in four adults affected by mental health issues each year, it’s important to understand that any of us could be affected. As a company, we’re making a public commitment to eliminate the stigma that can be associated with mental health issues.

Log on to the health and wellbeing portal to make your own pledge.

On the cover: Sallie Bates is on the front line of customer service in Tottenham

Protecting the railway is what my job is all about. For me it boils down to three things, assets, budgets and reputation.

the last point, reputation, is extremely important. what our neighbours and local communities think about us really matters. read more about what we’re doing to improve relations with our neighbours on pages four and five.

a year after the storms washed away the sea wall in Dawlish, we go back to speak to some of the locals and find out what the railway means to them (pages 13-15).

this year’s winter has been a tough one for Scotland. on pages six and seven we find out what our people have been doing to deal with the conditions.

over on pages eight and nine, euston station manager David Dubaj tells us what the team there is doing to improve the passenger experience as improvement work continues at the station. and on pages 16-18 we ask: “how do we reduce deliberate misuse of level crossings?”

I hope you enjoy the issue.

oRR RepoRTS on paSSengeR diSRupTion The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has published its report into the passenger disruption at King’s Cross and Paddington over Christmas.

The findings echo our own report and conclude that the rail industry must “place passengers at the heart of enhanced contingency planning for overrunning engineering works”.

While it acknowledged the delivery of more than 98 per cent of the Christmas and New Year engineering works were on time, the ORR said there were “significant weaknesses” in the planning and oversight of the King’s Cross and Paddington works.

“Putting passengers at the heart of our planning is absolutely the right thing to do,” said Mark Carne, chief executive. “We let people down during the disruption on 27 and 28 of December.

“Our own report has caused us to look again at the work we have planned this year and the contingency plans.”

We’re now reviewing all contingency plans for works scheduled over Easter and the May 2015 bank holidays and will have implemented all the recommendations, including those which require work with train operators, in advance of the Christmas 2015 engineering works.



“It’s sometimes important we remind ourselves how our services impact on our customers’ day-to-day lives.

“In the London North Eastern and East Midlands route, we have created ‘Mrs Smith’. It’s an effective way of putting the customer front and centre, particularly when we don’t get things quite right.

“By putting ourselves in Mrs Smiths’ shoes, it makes us ask ‘what can I do to improve her day?’.

“Ultimately, she’ll be the focus for a suite of initiatives being rolled out across the route to help our staff provide the best service possible.”Look out for the Mrs Smith video on Connect later this month.

in the spotlightCustomer manager Karen Byatt explains how their everywoman ‘Mrs Smith’ is helping to improve customer service

Full story on page four

LandSLip Line SeT To Reopen foR eaSTeR The railway line between Leamington Spa and Banbury will reopen by Easter (Thursday 2 April).

A landslip near Harbury on 31 January saw more than 350,000 tonnes of earth threaten to slip towards the railway.

The line provides a vital link for more than 130 passenger and freight trains

every day and our engineers are working tirelessly to make the landslip safe and reopen the line as soon as possible.

By mid February we had already removed more than 100,000 tonnes of earth from site and installed sophisticated equipment on track to monitor the slip.

JouRneyS hiT 1.3 BiLLion The total number of rail passenger journeys across Britain has risen by five per cent over the past year to 1.3bn according to an ORR report.

There were more than 63.5m more journeys taken across all regions with the exception of Wales, which saw a 1.3 per cent fall in journeys to 9.1m in 2013-14. The full report is now available online at www.orr.gov.uk/publications/reports

paSSengeR SaTiSfaCTion faLLS A survey from independent watchdog Passenger Focus has revealed a drop in passenger satisfaction.

The poll of 27,000 people last autumn looked at topics ranging from reliability to staff attitudes and value for money.

It recorded that 81 per cent of people said they were happy with railways in Britain, compared to 83 per cent in 2013.On pages 10-12 we take a closer look at the latest National Rail Passenger Satisfaction survey.


Caring neighbour

RiGHt HeRe, RiGHt nOw

The new customer contact system,

right now, has been in use since September. how is it improving

our customer service?


Sallie Bates is the infrastructure maintenance protection

coordinator at Tottenham delivery unit (DU). It covers a vast area – as far north as King's Lynn and as far south at Richmond, south of the Thames. Its stakeholders include 13 councils, MPs, English Heritage and Transport for London, to name a few.

Sallie’s been in the post for 10 years and said her job is all about protection.

“Assets, budgets and reputation, it’s my job to protect all of three but they can sometimes conflict.

“For example, if vegetation on our land is overgrowing and reducing the amount of light into a lineside neighbour’s property, although we aren’t legally obliged to take action, in exceptional circumstances we may cut trees back. It’s good for our reputation and it’s the right thing to do.

“Unplanned work like this will cost money that isn’t always in the budget.”

Calls like this come into the company on a regular basis and we’ve recently introduced a new system to log and monitor them – Right Now.

Service requests “We receive 80-100 service requests each period,” said Sallie. “These are issues that lineside neighbours or stakeholders have raised that require our attention. It can be difficult to control the workload.

“We work on a 12-week rostering system so we know how many people we have available for planned works in a good amount of time. For work that requires possessions, isolations or road closures, we need to have this planned well in advance. Even these can get shifted for safety critical issues that arise. These always take priority and will sometimes mean that other planned works get rescheduled.”

Sallie believes that

transparency on the progress of service requests is important in delivering a good service to our neighbours, something the Right Now system is aiming to do.

up in the sky Sallie said: “It’s early days for the new system and like any new way of working there are positives and negatives. For instance, it’s cloud based, which is great. Now we don’t have to be at an office and connected to the company’s network to view a service request.

“Being able to access service requests through your iPad is helpful but it means that you need reception, which in our region can be patchy.

“At the moment, infrastructure maintenance protection coordina-tors can’t see all of the notes on the system so we aren’t always working from the most up-to-date information. This isn’t too much of a concern though as I know it’s set to change in the near future.

“The system is more transparent for people making contact with us, and this is perhaps the most important part of Right Now. Anyone who raises an issue can follow its progress online.”

Knowledge is power We currently have a 20-day target to close out service requests. Sallie says that although Right Now may not help us solve every issue within 20 days, at least people know what is happening.

She added: “Ninety nine per cent of the time people are happy when they have correct and relevant information.

“Our reputation is very important. We need to work with lineside neighbours as they are the ones who influence the MPs and ultimately affect our reputation. Above all, we care about people and it’s important we show that’s the case. People have a choice when it comes to travelling these days and we want to keep them on the trains. Our reputation is a big part of that.” n

faST facTSRight Now

The system was rolled out in September 2014 to log contacts with our lineside neighbours, replacing the Oracle e-business system

Anyone who raises an issue can now follow its progress online

We receive more than 200,000 contacts a year from lineside neighbours, ranging from queries about vegetation and infrastructure to employee behaviour and complaints about routes and project work

Our external audiences – more than 22 million people – are those communities, local authorities or businesses that are impacted by our works or are within 500 metres of the railway boundary, as well as politicians.

Nicki Mayers, communications manager “Through Right Now we should be able to identify trends in areas and proactively target issues, saving us time and money. Fewer neighbours will have issues to call in about.”

Andy White, head of contact and communities “Our main role is to listen, respond and ensure we resolve our neighbours’ requests and complaints. The team receives around 20,000 enquires each period. Eighty per cent are resolved by the contact and communities team. The rest need route intervention from people like Sallie.”

Severe weather


how our people have

battled the harsh winter weather to keep trains

moving in Scotland


mark ilderton, station manager, glasgow central “The winter weather has posed a number of

challenges in the station, not least with passenger information. It’s important for us to put our passengers first.

“There were a number of cancellations and delays due to the conditions. Whenever that happens we notify news agencies but not everyone sees the news. We’re increasingly using Twitter and Facebook to reach out to more people.

“Those who made it to the station during the disruption were the first to see our new way of sharing information on passenger information screens. We’ve taken a more joined-up approach after agreeing with ScotRail, which runs more than 90 per cent of trains from this station, that we’d only show trains that were confirmed as running.

“When severe weather like we’ve experienced hits, there can be a lot of cancellations, which takes up a lot of space on screens. Information can get lost.

“For longer distance services, like those run by Virgin, we kept all departure information on screens as these services aren’t as frequent.

“It’s been a great success, saving space and confusion. Many passengers have told us that they are much happier with it.”

in the station

John Smith, section supervisor, crianlarich, perthshire “For us, when the winter

weather hits it’s business as usual. Our job is to get trains and people moving safely.

“I started in 1978 and this winter is not the worst I’ve seen but it’s definitely in the top 10.

“We have a strong team around us and that’s important all year round, but especially during disruptive weather. The high winds brought down lots of trees and branches so we used on-track machines to travel the track and clear debris by hand. On the West Highland and Oban lines alone we cleared around 100 trees over 90 miles of track.

“There was a flood at Helensburgh that washed away some ballast. We worked quickly to get that fixed as soon as we could. We managed to get trains running again within seven hours.

“Wind and rain are always a challenge but we’ve had plenty of the white stuff, too. In the 1970s we had to dig out points by hand every time the snow fell. Nowadays the points heaters ensure we don’t have to do this. But there are other tasks that need doing like cutting back over hanging trees and using ploughs to clear access roads.

“Keeping things moving has been a real team effort.”

on the line

miniature snow ploughs helped clear snow around the route

The team had to clear hundreds of trees from the tracks

faST facTSScotland’s winter

Winds speed exceeded gusts of 100mph in some exposed areas

Snow depth varied from 36 inches at Dunkeld and Blair Atholl to 54 inches at Slochd and Drumochter, wher e there was also drifting snow

The winter train was deployed with miniature snow ploughs

Our air operations team covered a total of 1,020 track miles in January attending areas difficult for our people to reach and high-priority routes for train running to recommence

Within 24 hours of the first storm arriving, chainsaw gangs cleared more than 400 trees from our tracks and teams worked to repair damaged overhead lines that had been battered by high winds

In addition to trees, obstacles on our railway included trampolines and sheds.

euston is a station undergoing change. its transformation is affecting passengers but, as station manager david dubaj tells us, good service conquers all


In-station disruption


“More than 180,000 people use Euston every day,” said David. “We’re in the middle

of renovation works, bringing in new spaces and retail units, a large bar and more upmarket food choices. Parts of the station are closed or sealed off while building works take place to create a new mezzanine level.

“It makes the station a challenging environment. But I find passengers don’t mind if there’s work going on – so long as they’re kept informed of the alterations to the station. People understand that we have to make improvements. The level of information and service they receive makes all the difference to how they feel about their journey.”

Sign of things to come“It’s all about giving them good service and the right information – then they understand what’s happening, what facilities are available and where to find them. When passengers have information they’re equipped to make alternative travel choices.

“We’ve worked with our marketing teams to create large vinyls that hang around the station giving people vital information. We’re looking into using the large advertising screens too – you can’t miss them and they would be perfect to advise passengers during times of unplanned disruption.

Station coordination“When unplanned disruption affects us, like when a power failure meant we couldn’t signal trains past Watford recently, we have a set process that swings into place.

“A member of the team becomes our disruption coordinator and pulls people together from the train operators and our teams from customer service and the control centre.

“We agree our plan and work together to circulate the right information around the station. We hand out leaflets and have plenty of people on the ground directing passengers to other stations where they can continue their journey.

“In my experience what matters most to people is how they are treated. That’s why I have sent my teams on a new customer excellence course that is being trialled on the London North Western route. I want to know customers are being given gold-star service, especially while the station is under improvement.

“I’ve also created a new role of passenger assistance manager who looks after our customer service mobility assistants. We have the highest mobility bookings of any station so it’s important we have the right resource and planning in place to make sure the people who need that help have a good experience.” n

Below: large vinyls tell passengers what’s happening around the station

Below: euston concourse sees

more than 180,000 passengers

each day

Ruel Morgan, from Southport: “I’ve not used this station in years – it’s a little confusing with all the work going on but you can see they’ve made the effort to tell you what is going on, so I don’t mind it.”

Michael Lane and his wife Moyra, from Barrow-in-Furness: “I’m 79 and my wife is 76. We couldn’t travel without the mobility support assistance – the good service makes all the difference to us.”

On the platform

Ben Conroy, customer service assistant at Euston “My job’s perfect. I love working with all the different people every day and helping customers have a good experience. It’s rewarding.”


Overall passenger satisfaction is down two per cent year on year to

81 per cent.

81%

Scotland has the highest levels of satisfaction at 88 per cent, while Kent

has the lowest, at 73 per cent.

88%

Punctuality remains the key driver of

satisfaction.

The way delays are handled is cited

as a main cause of dissatisfaction.

The biggest impact on overall dissatisfaction?

How train company dealt with delays Punctuality/reliability Sufficient room for all to sit/stand Ease of getting on/off Journey length Others

Satisfaction with mobile phone reception

Satisfied Dissatisfied Neither satisfied or dissatisfied

54%

14%

49%19%

32%

7%

4%

4%

17%

The biggest impact on overall satisfaction?

Punctuality/reliability Cleanliness inside train Journey length (speed) Ease of getting on/off train Comfort of the seating area Others

38%

18%8%

7%

5%

24%

PassenGeR FOCUsThe latest national rail passenger Survey has revealed a drop in rail users’ satisfaction

peter collins, operations development manager

“To maintain 83 per cent satisfaction across our

managed stations is a good result at this point in the control

period. Our station managers are analysing what passengers tell

them and addressing areas of dissatisfaction. We aim to end CP5 with

our managed stations averaging 90 per cent overall passenger

satisfaction.”

anthony Smith, chief executive of passenger focus “Rail passengers’ satisfaction is

driven by getting trains on time. Many are being let down. An honest, open

debate is now needed so passengers might be able to trust the promises

made by the industry again.”

sa

tis

faction factors train operatin

g c

om

pa

nie

s

our managed station

s

pa

ss

eng

er s

atisfaction


Satisfaction at our 18 managed stations remains

the same year on year, at 83 per cent.

83%

The highest-scoring operators are Heathrow

Express and Grand Central, both with 94 per cent

satisfaction.

94%

London Bridge, 64 per cent, and Birmingham,

65 per cent, are the lowest-scoring stations for

satisfaction.

64%

St Pancras (96 per cent) and King’s Cross

(94 per cent) are the highest performers.

Satisfaction is on the rise at our managed stations in Scotland – Passenger satisfaction at Edinburgh Waverley up six per cent

to 91 per cent.

Southeastern is the lowest scoring operator for passenger satisfaction, with 74 per cent –

down 11 per cent from last year. Govia Thameslink

and Southern scored 77 per cent.

74%

Cross Country’s overall satisfaction score

dropped four per cent.

First Hull Trains, with a three-point increase to

89 per cent, is the most improved

operator.

continued:passenger

satisfaction

3%

4%

dyan crowther, chief operating officer, govia Thameslink railway “We are working closely with Network Rail and other industry partners to deliver an action plan to improve reliability and service quality on the Brighton Main Line and Thameslink to run the level of service that is expected by our passengers.”

Juliet donnachie, station manager, edinburgh Waverley “We continued to operate fully during 11 years of project works, which completed just before an extraordinary summer last year including the Commonwealth Games, the Edinburgh Festival, and Ryder Cup. The works allowed us to open up the station for local and social enterprise, including our Friday Market.”

sa

tis

faction factors train operatin

g c

om

pa

nie

s

our managed station

s

pa

ss

eng

er s

atisfaction

Find OUt mOReRead the full National Rail Passenger Survey online at passengerfocus.org.uk


faST facTSNational Rail Passenger Survey

Independent watchdog Passenger Focus runs the survey twice yearly

Thousands of passengers are asked for their opinions on 33 aspects of train services

More than 27,000 people were surveyed for the latest report between 2 September and 11 November 2014

We commissioned additional research to see how satisfied passengers are with our managed stations.

naomie Jones, travelling from milton Keynes to Watford “For me it’s all about getting a seat. I always reserve one when I can, but sometimes it’s a bit of a fight to get seated. The commuter services can be the most difficult, especially when you are sandwiched in with little room to move.”

Tim andrews, travelling from crewe to milton Keynes “Punctuality is the most important thing to me when I use the train. I have missed connecting services because of delays in the past and it can be a real nightmare.”

Tammy Spence, travelling from manchester piccadilly to milton Keynes “I’m pleased with the service I get when I use the railway. For me, friendly staff and reliable service are the most important. After all, we’re paying for that service.”

Jermaine austin, travelling from Birmingham new Street to milton Keynes “I use the train every day for work and also to get around the country – I don’t like flying. When the railway works, it’s great, but a slight delay can change everything. A delay-free service is what’s most important to me.”

Tanwen hoare, travelling from glasgow to euston “Just tell me what’s happening. It’s so frustrating when you’re waiting on a platform and the ‘expected at’ time keeps changing. It wouldn’t be so bad if I knew what was happening but too often we’re just stood there in the cold.”

We caught up with some passengers to find out what’s important to them when it comes to rail travel.

and our passengers said...

Passenger satisfaction(continued)

Glad you were here

Glad you were here


residents reflect on how our “orange army”

is helping protect their seaside town

Glad you were here

Glad you were here


Dawlish one year on

Read more on next page

Glad you were here


A year after notorious storms destroyed a section of the sea wall at Dawlish, our work in the

area is continuing to make the railway more resilient.

We’re working to reduce the likelihood of a repeat of the scale of last year’s damage. Following further repairs to the sea wall and walkways, the orange army’s focus has moved on to cliff stabilisation work between Teignmouth and Dawlish, and improvements to the section of walkway between Rockstone and Coast Guard footbridges.

We’re building a new wall in front of the existing sea wall to provide further protection. A reconstructed, higher walkway will allow people to use it in all tidal conditions – this is a first for this section, which was not accessible during high tides.

So what do the locals think of our people and the work we’re doing?

ann ferris, owner of seaside holiday apartments, The Blenheim“The Blenheim has been here

since the 1800s, even before Brunel. I’ve run the apartments for 27 years and have seen how important the railway is to Dawlish.

“It was very sad when the railway went down. To not see the trains going up and down the coast was very strange. The truth is that in this modern age, the town isn’t as reliant on the railway as it

used to be. That being said, it had a huge impact on the town when the sea wall collapsed. A lot of visitors do come to Dawlish for the railway, so it is no wonder the storm damage grabbed so many of the headlines.

“A lot of the people working on the repair last year stayed with us. We were completely full with railway workers. My experience of them is a very good one. They do a tough job and they do it well. Of course they get paid, but they are working in difficult conditions and keep the trains moving, which in our part of the world is very important.”

rosalind prowse, district and town councillor“The railway is Dawlish. I have a long association with fighting

to keep what I consider the lifeblood of this town, and others along this part of the coast, alive. I don’t think they would even exist if Brunel didn’t build the line here.

“It’s been the lifeblood or the area for many years and it looks set to become even more important. We’re expecting to build 1,500 new homes in the next 20 years.

“It is bringing younger people into the area and we expect many of them to work outside of Dawlish.

“Two things happened when the storms damaged the line last year. It made the government realise that there was life beyond Bristol and it brought us closer together as a community.

Tom Kirkham, project manager “The reopening of the railway line was just the start of a long process that’s continuing to make the area more weatherproof for the future. I’d like to thank people in the local community for their continued patience and support, and reassure them that our people are working round the clock to complete this essential improvement work as quickly and safely as possible.”

Before: police declared a major

incident on 5 february 2014

after a section of sea wall collapsed

Dawlish one year on(continued)


Find OUt mOReRead more about our continued work in Dawlish and watch time-lapse footage online at tinyurl.com/NetworkRailDawlish

“People were suddenly displaced from their homes and were relying on their neighbours. Everyone pulled together.

“The orange army was brilliant. People worked under atrocious conditions to get things moving again. There are a number of big challenges facing Network Rail, including capacity and timetabling, but my view of the company remains extremely high.”

margaret Swift, co-ordinator for friends of dawlish Station“I’m a regular rail user, for business and leisure. For

me, you simply can’t underestimate the importance of this railway.

“It really did make you realise how dependent we are on it when the line went down. The train to Exeter is 20 minutes, but the replacement bus takes an hour.

“I joined the Friends of Dawlish Station group in 2014 to help the town make the most of the station and the railway. We’re currently working with Network Rail and others to see if we can turn the disused waiting room at the station into a heritage room. We’d like to create a memorial for ‘the great storm of Dawlish’ in there.

“I travel all over the south region for my job and 90 per cent of the time I use the railway and I get a great service. I think in recent years things have got hugely better. I’m certainly experiencing fewer delays. I think an issue that still

needs working on is rolling stock. Better rolling stock would go a long way to improving the passenger experience.”

frank Turner, local resident, Sea lawn Terrace, dawlish “I couldn’t imagine life without a railway. I’ve lived on the

seafront here for three years and am used to the trains passing by. We’re also used to bad weather, feeling the building shake and having waves breaking against the windows. It’s the price we pay for a beautiful view. But the storm in 2014 was something else.

“The police banged on the door at midnight and explained that we had 10 minutes to get out as we were all being evacuated. We spent the night in the leisure centre. Ever since that moment the orange army has been fantastic.

“People have done a great job in tremendously difficult circumstances. A lot of them have had to be away from their families for a long time while they rebuilt the line. We all appreciate their hard work.

“In the weeks following the wall collapse I often took tea and biscuits to the orange army. We made a lot of friends during the reconstruction works and it’s been great to see so many of the workmen and women returning to Dawlish with their families to show off the work they’ve done. They’re proud of it, quite rightly, and we’re proud of them.”

after: The orange army worked day and night, and managed to officially reopen the line on friday 4 april 2014

Level crossings


Level headedWe went to ford, Sussex, to catch up with some of the key players in level crossing safety and find out how we’re changing behaviours

Level headed


We’re working in partnership with the British Transport Police (BTP) and communities to get

people using level crossings in the right way – the safe way.

Increased prosecutions and awareness-raising events are helping to spread the word, but what more can we do?

inspector Becky Warren, British Transport police“We’re working very hard to reduce deliberate misuse

of level crossings. It’s all about safety. Deliberate misuse could result in a fatality and we can prevent that.

“The ideal scenario is that we don’t prosecute anyone because everybody is using level crossings safely. But the sad truth is that we’re very far away from that. Part of the problem is education. New road users may have read about level crossings in the Highway Code but may never have actually used one.

“We’re working to remind people how to use level crossings correctly. We do that in a number of ways, but one of the most effective is awareness-raising events at crossings and stations.

“Something that’s playing a big part in reducing deliberate misuse of level crossings is the mobile safety vehicles, which use automatic number plate recognition. There are 15 across the

network all owned by Network Rail and operated by BTP. They’re strategically placed and capture deliberate misuse. Drivers who get caught can get points on their licence. They may be eligible to attend a driver awareness course, which brings us back to education. The more people who understand the risks, the less deliberate misuse there will be.”

Tina hughes, our level crossing user champion“I’m motivated to prevent people from going through

what we had to. When Olivia [Bazlinton, Tina’s daughter] and her friend Charlotte [Thompson] died in December 2005, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to my daughter. I don’t want anyone to go through that.

“It’s really important that we all work together to make things better at level crossings. I can see why some people get frustrated, especially at crossings where the barriers are down for a long time and up for a matter of seconds before the amber light goes on again, but it’s not worth the risk of driving or running across.

“The majority of the time people are using the crossings properly, but some people do cut corners and when others see this happening they too are tempted to take chances.

“Quite simply, people don’t walk away from accidents with trains.”

faST facTSLevel crossings

We pay for 15 mobile safety vehicles for the railway network. These are operated by BTP officers and used to catch deliberate misuse of level crossings

In 2013-14 there were eight accidental fatalities at level crossings and 10 collisions between trains and road vehicles

Between 2009 and 2014 we closed more than 900 level crossings. Our work continues to close more across the network.

Tina’S honourMBE for level crossing champion

Since the death of her daughter, Tina has dedicated her time to improving level crossing safety and was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Tina was joined by her husband Nigel, daughter Stevie and cousin Michelle as she collected her MBE at Buckingham Palace on Friday 6 February.

Level crossings(continued)


Find OUt mOReFind out more about our approach to level crossing safety on Connect

clive robey, level crossing manager“I’ve worked on the railways for more than 40 years, ever

since I left school. I became a level crossing manager two years ago.

“It’s a varied role, one hour I could be doing a risk assessment or asset inspection and the next I could be speaking to one of my many stakeholders – a train operating company, local council, pedestrians or motorists.

“The big challenge we have when it comes to changing behaviours is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to education. For example, last month we played a big part in Operation Look, a week-long event which saw level crossing managers and BTP officers take to crossings around the network and speak to drivers and pedestrians about level crossings. A lot of the time people are aware of the dangers, but from time to time you will get people who have never encountered a level crossing before as there are none around where they live. How do we make sure these people know how to use them safely?

“We need to stay flexible and come up with new ways of reaching out. I recently targeted a number of haulage firms from around my region to help educate their drivers on how to use the crossings safely. It has been very successful.”

right: BTp volunteer helps educate drivers about level crossings.Below: one of our mobile safety vehicles

Pupils at the Joyce Frankland Academy in Saffron Walden, the school attended by Tina’s daughter Olivia and her friend Charlie, feature in our new level crossing safety film. Crossing Over was made with the support of Tina and aims to raise awareness of the dangers at level crossings. Scenes were filmed on the school’s premises

Crossing Over

with pupils acting as extras while actors took the lead roles.Gordon Farquhar, principal at Joyce Frankland Academy, said: “The deaths of Olivia and Charlotte were devastating. We were all keen to be able to contribute in a lasting way to a safety message that might help keep people alive.” This film will be distributed to

schools across the country through our community safety managers. You can view the film on YouTube at http://youtu.be/ZoGfw2taFNg


network news

freedom of information: roadshows continue to take place across the network ahead of freedom of information (foi), which we will be subject to by april. open days in march will take place at Square one, manchester (4 march), callaghan Square, cardiff (9 march) and george Stephenson house, york (19 march). you can find out more about foi on connect or by emailing [email protected]

The 2015 Business Briefings hosted by Mark Carne, our chief executive, kick off on

Wednesday 8 April at Greenwood Theatre in London.

By the end of May, Mark will have visited 11 locations and spoken at 19 briefings.

This year’s events have been designed to be truly interactive, with you – the audience – helping to shape the tone of the day and giving as many people as possible the opportunity to have their say.

We know that if you work out on track getting to a Business Briefing isn’t always easy, so this year Mark will visit a number of local delivery units throughout April and

Be part of the ‘better every day’ conversation

east midlands: our infrastructure projects team in east midlands held its first collaborative safety event in castle donington for 560 people from network rail and seven supply chain partners. The day gave teams a chance to share best practice and ideas.

Borders railway: The installation of almost 30 miles of rail on the new Borders railway has been completed. it will re-establish passenger services from edinburgh through midlothian to Tweedbank for the first time in more than 40 years.

manchester: manchester airport station has reopened after work to install track and signalling as part of the new fourth platform was completed. The fourth platform will come into use in may and deliver more capacity.

Can’t make it?Don’t worry. You can keep up to speed with what’s happening at the Business Briefings on Connect News throughout April and May

BOOk YOUR PLaCeOn-line registration is now open. Head to Connect to sign up for your local Business Briefing

ScheduleLondon 8 April 10am, 2pmMilton Keynes 9 April 10am, 2pmDerby 20 April 2pmYork 21 April 10am, 2pmManchester 22 April 10am, 2pmBristol 24 April 10am, 2pmBirmingham 29 April 10am, 2pmGlasgow 12 May 10am, 2pmBasingstoke 14 May 3pmBethnal Green 19 May 10am, 2pmCardiff 20 May 2pm

May, giving you the chance to speak with him about issues that are important to you. Details of the delivery unit visits will be advertised locally.

Sunderland: Trains have started to run on the port of Sunderland’s rail lines for the first time in more than 20 years. Transport secretary patrick mcloughlin was among those at port to see the first locomotive run on the port’s newly connected lines as part of a trial we have organised with freight operator dB Schenker rail uK. read more in next month’s issue of network.

ReGisteR nOwyou can register to attend your nearest briefing through connect

Business Briefings are taking place across the network throughout april and may

Be PaRt OF tHe

BetteR eVeRY daY COnVeRsatiOn

Network March 2015

Documents

Transcript of Network March 2015