Right Track 43: SOPE, dispatch and slam-door stock

The cross-industry People in Trains and in Stations Risk Group (PTSRG) is working both to raise awareness of the problem – which has risen since the pandemic – and to improve reporting. Good reporting focuses action where it’s needed, and that’s exactly what happened back in 2010, when we reported a rise in risk at the platform-train interface (PTI). That led directly to a poignant dramatisation of the subject in RED 28 and eventually all the PTI work that we’re familiar with today, including the existence of the PTSRG itself.

RED 65 returns to the issue, and so does Right Track 43. RSSB engagement manager Marianna White looks at how train dispatch has changed over the years. Believe it or not, it was once totally normal to open the door of a train and jump to the platform while it was pulling in. We also look at changes to the Rule Book made in relation to items dropped to the track. Claire Volding, Route Control Manager at Network Rail, meanwhile, describes how RED 65 was made, offering a few top dispatch tips into the bargain. She goes into more detail in Rail Safety Review 76, which also includes an article on how Amey Infrastructure Wales is helping rail to bring social value to the Valleys.

Elsewhere in Right Track 43, Dominic Morrow, Rail Safety Specialist at Southern, discusses operational assessments and the importance of non-technical skills. RSSB’s Lead Work Psychologist, Joana Faustino, looks at post-traumatic stress disorder, and Bessie Matthews, Shunt Driver with Freightliner, is on the radio. Over and out.