HM The Queen's Platinum Jubilee
People who work on the railway often refer to it as the ‘Permanent Way’. And in many respects, it is: the lines laid in Victorian times remain—though renewed and renewed again—through the Edwardian era, the roaring twenties, swinging sixties, seventies, eighties right up to the present day. Everyone who works in this industry is committed to keeping everybody safe, and keeping the railway green. It’s a delight to witness.
But it hasn’t always been this way. In 1952, the year of the Queen’s accession, the railways were simply not as safe or as green as they are today. Steam trains contributed to smog, and the tragic accident at Harrow and Wealdstone—Britain’s worst peacetime rail accident—unveiled weaknesses in the way train drivers anticipated red signals.
A few years later, the passing of the Clean Air Act successfully helped reduce smog, and the Automatic Warning System (AWS) – would go on to help reduce the risk of train accidents.
Time changes everything, and soon steam would be replaced by new fleets of more efficient diesel and electric trains. InterCity services connected people with faster journey times and better comfort, leading to a new generation rediscovering their fascination with rail.
Something else was happening too. Train accidents were becoming rarer. But not eliminated altogether. The accident at Ladbroke Grove in 1999 taught the railways some very important lessons, driving even more improvements to signalling and driver training. It also led to the creation of RSSB to support the whole industry working together on safety, standards and sustainability.
This means that whatever train you’re travelling on, wherever you are in the country, there are people committed to keeping passengers, the workforce and the wider public as safe as possible.
How do we do it? Unlike in 1952, lots of data and intelligence is gathered about the trains and the track. This is analysed so faults can be found, and trends identified so that specific improvements can be made.
Sometimes a bigger problem is found where there is no clear answer, and that’s when our Research and Development team gets involved. Their findings can be applied to improve technology, systems and processes. This can unlock innovative solutions—from how to automate the application of sand to improve the grip of the train on the track, or considering the most sustainable fuel source, or measuring, understanding and combating poor air quality.
Where a particular insight or learning is proven to have value, it will be integrated into new or revised standards and rules so everyone in the industry is ‘singing from the same hymn-sheet’.
And it’s not just safety that can be improved. The same approach helps improve the health and wellbeing of the workforce, including our Mental Health Charter, which recently won a national award.
Our researchers and experts are also improving rail’s sustainability. Although the train has a far lower carbon footprint compared to motoring or flying, there are still opportunities to make it greener. This includes replacing diesel with fully electrified trains, improving air quality, getting more freight off lorries and on to rail, and mitigating the effects of extreme weather.
Britain’s railways are among the safest in the world, and the train is one of the greenest forms of transport. At RSSB we want it to stay that way, and our experts are working alongside the hard-working teams across the industry to make things even better in the future.
