Our industry topics are a direct response to challenge or opportunity where the rail industry has looked to RSSB for guidance or solutions. We’ve collated all the relevant content into a single place so that our members can access the relevant research, standards, campaigns and good practice in one place. If you would like to suggest an industry topic, please get in touch.
Industry Topics
Featured
The Enabling Better Performance Research Challenge (PERFORM) – which sets out to achieve performance improvements to run more trains on time today, while improving the rail performance of tomorrow - is developing knowledge, tools and guidance to help industry drive performance improvements.
Adhesion
Moisture on the rail can mix with the film produced by 'leaves on the line' or other contaminants such as rust or grease, to cause low adhesion conditions. Industry works hard to manage and reduce loss of adhesion. While the level of low adhesion experienced in autumn is particularly severe, low adhesion can occur at any time of year and can result in significant disruptions to passenger journeys. In response to this adhesion challenge, we have developed a multi-faceted programme that encompasses fundamental research, tactical enhancements to existing solutions and opportunities to use novel solutions.
Fatigue and Alertness
Whether you work in an office or on the front line, drive your car home from work or a train full of passengers, you need to be awake and alert to do your job safely and efficiently. Managing fatigue is everybody’s responsibility. Our aim is to make sure that everyone, at all levels, understands their role in managing fatigue. Based on our research and consultation, we have put together a range of resources to help with this.
Health and Wellbeing
The rail industry believes it can achieve greater business and industry benefits by working together on health and wellbeing. Find out more about how the industry is coming together through the industry roadmap, topic specific groups, health and wellbeing data and many other areas of development.
Horizon Scanning
Horizon scanning is the systematic gathering of evidence on future opportunities and threats. Horizon scanning aims to spot changes in the world around us before they become ‘old news’, so that decision makers can plan on how to exploit or mitigate these changes, securing the most positive outcome for their organisation.
Platform Train Interface
Incidents at the platform train interface (PTI) account for almost half of the total passenger fatality risk on the mainline railway network, and about one-fifth of the overall passenger fatality and weighted injury (FWI) risk. To manage this risk we must acknowledge the PTI as part of the system that makes up the railway and not an isolated issue, and therefore has and will continue to become an important consideration for design, operations, workforce development and passenger behaviour.
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