75 years of a rail vehicle asset register for rail vehicles of all ages
One of the key aims of nationalisation was to make financial efficiencies based on better stock utilisation. This meant that in January 1948, the newly-formed British Transport Commission decided that all rolling stock inherited from the pre-nationalised companies needed to be recorded in a standardised way. To achieve this, the Central Stock Registry (CSR) was created. This was an asset register to manage BR’s fleet of 1, 283,000 vehicles. It became mandatory for departments owning rail vehicles to supply all relevant facts to the register and maintain it, so that it was up-to-date for the whole industry.
The 1960’s saw some more modernisation of rail, including moving the location of the register from London to Derby. The register also became the responsibility of BR’s headquarters’ chief accountant, and was renamed the Rolling Stock Library (RSL). It became a very important tool for monitoring and recording financial data about fleet vehicles, which was particularly valuable at the time because the traction and rolling stock fleet was changing rapidly. The need for a register of rail vehicles continued in the 1970’s and the 1980’s, especially with the introduction of the train operating system Total Operations Processing System. There was now an ongoing high demand for more rail vehicle technical, maintenance, and modification records. So in January 1985, RSL was integrated with the Rail Vehicle Records System (RAVERS) and RSL became the responsibility of BR’s Central Services Department.
RSL’s moves and changes didn’t end there. By 1994 when UK rail was privatised, RSL was part of BR Business Systems. BR Business Systems was initially sold to Sema Group, and subsequently went through successive takeovers by Schlumberger, Atos Origin, and other Atos entities. Today, RSL is part of Worldline, which came into being in 2013, initially as part of the Atos Group.
In addition to changes of ownership, there were also changes of physical location. In 2000 the library was relocated from its long-term base in Derby to Nottingham, before becoming established nearby at the current Beeston location. Maintaining data quality and accessibility throughout these organisational and locational changes was a challenge. Despite these many moves in an ever-changing privatised rail industry, RSL has consistently delivered an extremely stable service.
So what of RSL and RAVERS today? They have been replaced by R2, which was successfully introduced as the modern required platform in 2015. R2 is based on RSL and RAVERS but is more efficient and user friendly. RSSB uses its unique position in the railway, understanding the many and varied stakeholders that use the tool, to provide the essential foundation for R2. This, coupled with the software expertise offered by Worldline, ensures that the system structure and quality of data collected supports cross-industry safety and reliability initiatives. It is supported by Worldline’s managed services team at Beeston who are the consistent central source for total rail vehicle registration information. R2 now also includes the allocation of vehicle types, running numbers, and system codes. A robust registration process controlled in association with rail industry standards ensures accurate vehicle and system data entry by the correct and competent people. Certification issued by competent industry engineers backs up this quality control. If required, experts at Beeston and Darlington can provide additional technical support. Crucially, if a vehicle is not registered on R2 or any related systems, it’s not allowed to run on Network Rail infrastructure.
Some might think that because R2 today covers less than 50,000 registered vehicles when CSL in 1948 covered well over one million vehicles it is easier to manage, but they’d be wrong. Today’s R2 has much more detailed and technical data, and that data is used far more widely to enable complete utilisation of the network’s assets. So the challenges in maintaining R2 are greater than ever before.
R2 continues to evolve to enable all industry partners and system users to use it. This includes sharing current data with European registers, and incorporating registration of all vehicles, whether that be of the latest sleek new builds or heritage type vehicles. In fact one of the registration requests in January 2023 is for a steam locomotive that will soon be moving, exactly 160 years on from its initial introduction.
R2 really is the vehicle asset database for all rail vehicles, and helps everyone in rail get the most value out of their vehicles. It’s great to celebrate its first 75 years of achievements and look forward to the next 75 years. Happy Birthday R2!
