Traffic Operation and Management

Introduction

In the rail industry, the term ‘traffic operation and management’ refers to the rules and procedures required to enable a coherent operation of the different parts of the railway such as rolling stock, energy, plant, infrastructure, and control command signalling.

Traffic operation and management applies to the way these different parts work together during both normal and degraded operations (such as the mode of working during signalling failures).

Before Covid, there were about 1.7billion passenger journeys made in Britain every year, and although fewer people have been travelling of late, there are still about 250million journeys made each quarter. About 4billion net tonne kilometres of freight are made each quarter. This a lot of rail traffic, all of which needs to be managed and operated safely and efficiently.

This area of discipline can be further categorised into:
operational rules - direct instructions for railway staff provided in the National Operations Publications (commonly known as ‘The Rule Book’).

operation of signalling and infrastructure - signalling and infrastructure operation, train signalling regulations, instructions for safe systems of work on infrastructure

safe operation of the railway - workforce safety and safety management systems, safety information and communications; planning, managing and investigating accidents, incidents and emergencies; policies on drugs and alcohol and working hours, modelling, fire procedures, hazardous goods, track worker safety, crowd management

working instructions for staff - passenger and freight train operations, occupational standards for operational competence, instructions for people employed in a range of activities on the main line railway network.
How our experts work with industry

We have a team of experts with considerable experience in all aspects of rail operation, many of whom have been train drivers, guards, signallers or indeed managed real-life rail operation. They lend their expertise to the creation and review of relevant standards and rules.

RSSB provides cross-industry governance for industry decisions and activities in many areas of rail improvement. Rail industry standards relating to traffic operations and management are managed by the Traffic Operation and Management Standards Committee. Specifically, the committee in conjunction with RSSB, oversees the development and maintenance of standards, guidance notes and other documents for use by train operators, infrastructure managers, and train manufacturers to fulfil their legal obligations in operating and managing rail traffic.