The synergy that powers rail
The synergy created by combining research, standards, safety, and sustainability under one roof is vital to help rail companies remain competitive.
Johnny SchuteChief Operating Officer, RSSB
In the fast-paced world of rail, staying ahead of the curve is essential. This is especially important during times of change. At the core of RSSB are four integral parts: safety, standards, research, and sustainability. Each of these parts plays a vital role in helping rail companies remain competitive and provide the best possible service to their customers. However, the true strength of RSSB lies in the synergy created by combining these four parts under one roof.
Research is the driving force behind any successful business. It provides answers to questions, solves industry issues, and offers new ways of doing things. At RSSB, our research experts work tirelessly to explore unanswered questions. They are alert to pressing industry issues and respond accordingly, exploring emerging technologies and revising outdated assumptions. However, our research is not done in isolation. It informs and is informed by our work in standards and safety.
Standards are essential for ensuring consistency, affordability, reliability, and interoperability across the rail industry. They codify how things should be done and are informed by the latest research. Standards play a vital commercial role, with their impact assessed as part of the approval process. They also facilitate seamless operations across the network, even when multiple companies are involved. At RSSB, we keep our standards under constant review, informed by industry feedback, safety data, and our research.
Safety is also critical for any rail business. A focus on safety shows where operational performance needs to be improved. It also reveals emerging areas of concern. At RSSB, we work to improve safety in rail through collecting and analysing data, providing tools to help identify safety hotspots, and by providing guidance to improve performance. Our work in safety informs and is informed by our work on research and standards.
Permeating all of these areas is sustainability. We’ve worked with industry to produce the Sustainable Rail Blueprint, which covers 11 areas. Whatever the sustainability issue, it’s included in our work on standards, safety, and research. This ensures that the benefits of sustainability, and any potential issues, are flagged up and addressed at an early stage. Just as industry encounters sustainability at all points of its business, we encounter and incorporate sustainability, too.
RSSB is a much more effective organisation because it combines research, standards, safety, and sustainability under one roof. Each of these parts reinforces and strengthens the others. This creates a synergy that gives the industry increased value. Like a sailing crew with four members—skipper, chartmaster, mainsail trimmer, and bowman—each part is vital for stability, strength, and functionality. Remove one, and the function of the whole and the parts themselves are massively compromised. By being altogether, we can get to the solutions quicker and more cost-effectively.
We work collaboratively with our members, to jointly set our agenda. We allocate resources in the most efficient way. To provide extra funding for our work, we’ve also been steadily building our commercial activities.
The result? Every pound members spend on membership generates substantial savings. For instance, in the financial year 2023/24, £1 of member spend generated over £17 in savings.
These infographic illustrate some of the ways we’re all adding value to rail, together.