An overview of our whole-system focus
£527m in industry gains over the next decade through whole-system collaboration
Our whole-system approach combines working with your expertise, our expertise, and technology.
Our rail network has always operated with a demand for consistent efficiency and safety in the face of cost pressures. Today, this is against the acute backdrop of revenue losses still to be regained in the wake of the pandemic.
We are the only organisation dedicated to the technical improvement of the entire rail system. However, our whole-system approach relies on working with your expertise, in tandem with our technology, to guide our work.
With the imminent reorganisation of the rail industry, it is vital that we all continue to work closely together to drive efficiencies.
We are the only technically-focused organisation with a remit to support the entire sector. This includes passenger, freight, ROSCOs, supply chain, and more. It means our whole-system approach will continue to be vital under our new government.
That’s why our in-house expertise is vast, from horizon-scanning to some of the world’s greatest technical and subject-matter experts. We harness their enthusiasm and knowledge with our industry members so we can direct our resources where they will do the most good.
We also have strong links with universities, who carry out research for us and for rail. Cranfield and Huddersfield are just two that have worked with us on smarter train maintenance practices.
In fact, the scale of collaboration with our members is staggering. Virtually all our services and resources are overseen, governed, commissioned or approved by a cross-industry group. This is made up of our members’ representatives and other stakeholders.
That means hundreds of our members’ people, likely including one or two from your organisation, are actively involved in guiding our activity through our groups and committees.
There are strong industry incentives for collaboration. It allows our members to guide and support research that benefits them and considers their experience and needs. Quick collaboration between disciplines produces faster, more focused benefits.
That’s why we’re putting more effort into building the foundations that will allow a better return on collaboration in the future. We call these ‘strategic multipliers’. Together these will provide a rising tide of capability designed to address the whole industry’s priority issues.
The multipliers include developing safety and health insight tools and increasing data interoperability. Others will allow us to improve testing capabilities and weather resilience, as well as get the best out of automation and AI.
The result? Greater performance and reduced costs. In 2023-24 alone, our activity produced a potential industry benefit of £527m in operational costs. It is likely, in one way or another, that your organisation has reaped the benefits.
Other projects we have delivered have the ability to generate savings even further into the future. For example, PRIMA is a decision support tool, built to evaluate more and more frequent extreme weather events.
It breaks down safety risk, economic impact, and driveability of proposed speed restrictions. PRIMA gives advance estimates of optimum speeds for severe weather to ensure a proportionate response to extreme rainfall.
In essence, this means the end of blanket 40mph speed restrictions that will enable trains to perform not only safely, but also more efficiently.
Our freight coupler research will allow many freight trains to run up to five extra wagons. This will deliver cost and carbon savings, making freight more commercially attractive.
The new Health and Wellbeing Data Hub is expected to generate £10m a year of industry benefits, with a collaborative, standardised system for analytics and research.
These projects only scratch the surface of what’s needed. Rail is a large and complex beast. Our collaborative groups offer the cleanest, most agile way to tap into the right priorities and expertise with a whole-system approach.
We must work together across multiple interfaces to create a safe, efficient and cost-effective network, so we can all help keep Britain moving with safer, smarter rail.
Get in touch for more information about our groups and committees or to get more involved.
For more information on the Whole-system approach:
How our whole-system approach creates value
Whole-system approach means rail shapes RSSB’s work
Podcast - Our place at the heart of the rail industry