Traffic operation and management

Our traffic operation and management experts work with the Traffic Operation and Management Standards Committee to oversee the development and maintenance of the standards, guidance, and technical notes rail organisations use to fulfil their legal obligations in operating and managing rail traffic.

In the rail industry, the term ‘traffic operation and management’(TOM) 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.