How to reduce the risk and disruption from objects on the line
There has been increasing interest in the issue of objects left on the line. The Rail Accident and Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigation into the trolleys left on the line at Challow and Twickenham has sparked interest in this area by DfT.
The management of objects on the line is the highest proportion of the Train Accident Risk Group’s (TARG) risk profile. It accounts for risk of 0.838 FWI / year. It involves a wide range of objects and risks for the operational railway. They can range from maintenance equipment left on the line to items placed by vandals.
TARG needed to dedicate time and resources to getting better oversight and improve the management of this type of risk.
A methodical approach was taken to analyse and evaluate the risk of objects on the line. Improvements were then suggested.
The activities included:
- data analysis and risk baselining to identify the areas of risks.
- evaluating the current risk management processes and their effectiveness in reducing the risk. This was supported by the creation of an objects on the line bowtie.
- facilitating workshops to specify future mitigations and management plans.
- undertaking a data insight analysis into the risk area, with a priority focus on equipment such as trolleys left on the line after maintenance work.
This project has mapped out scenarios for leaving objects on the line and informed the SMIS team of data collection improvements so that this issue can be better managed.
It has shown the scenarios to the groups responsible for monitoring and implementing controls.
It identified issues in the SMIS form which make it difficult to accurately capture and monitor objects on the line. These have been fed into the SMIS simplification project. This will help provide more robust data for monitoring in future.
It demonstrated identified an important cross-functional issue spanning train accident risk, asset integrity, workforce safety, and trespass.
This project shows RSSB’s leadership in an area that is becoming more important.