RSSB in the news
Our activities and appeals often make it into the trade press. Find out what journos covered in September and why it matters to your business.
Brian ClarkeSenior communications manager, RSSB
RSSB CEO Mark Phillips has called on the freight sector to co-fund research to help achieve the ambitious goal of increasing rail freight by 75% by 2050.
Speaking at the 32nd Rail Freight Group Conference in London, he highlighted the transformative potential of research in the sector. By investing in research together, the freight sector would be able to overcome challenges that cannot be solved alone and unlock growth opportunities for individual freight operators.
Mark’s speech, which recognised the commercial challenges facing the rail freight sector, drew the audience’s attention to some key benefits from recent RSSB freight research:
Enhanced efficiency and competitiveness: Research provides the insights and data necessary for making strategic decisions, optimising process, and maintaining a competitive edge. Projects including the Heavy Axle Weight Interaction Model and the axle fault detection initiative are already delivering significant operational improvements and cost savings.
Sustainability and decarbonisation: Shifting more goods from road to rail supports national decarbonisation efforts. Initiatives such as improving freight train operational efficiency and redefining freight gauges contribute to reducing emissions and enhancing the sustainability footprint of rail freight.
Market expansion: Research helps identify new opportunities and solutions to expand rail freight markets. Historical examples and recent projects demonstrate how targeted research can unlock new freight flows and improve service offerings.
Closing his speech, Mark issued a call to arms, urging the freight sector to contribute co-funding to the research programme: ‘We need your input, your collaboration, your commitment, and your funding for our future rail freight research programme. Co-funding will enable extension of the research programme’s reach, accelerating progress towards the 75% growth target and ensuring the rail freight sector remains competitive, efficient, and sustainable.’
Research on reducing the minimum age of train drivers has found that no new cost or special allowances need to be brought in because existing training, competence, and safety systems could be deployed for younger entrants.
RSSB has conducted research on the feasibility of reducing the minimum age of train drivers from 20 to 18. Other countries around Europe already allow 18-year-olds to drive domestic trains, and they’re seeing the benefits.
An 18-year-old, regardless of their background, is just as capable of training to become a train driver as a 20-year-old. Experience, rather than age, is a better predictor of driver performance. Skills including hazard perception, situational awareness, and decision making improve with exposure to a certain task.
Mark said: ‘Encouraging more school leavers to take up train driving apprenticeships is what our railways need. The prospect of joining the profession is more attractive to people at 18 than at 20, where the idea might be old news as you have already chosen a different path.
‘We can increase the number of people becoming train drivers as a first job and lower the average age of this vital role. Increasing the diversity and size of the candidate pool will challenge stereotypes and harness skills that are more prevalent in the next generation of career finders.
‘Many young people nowadays are not seeking a degree or traditional 9–5 office job and want a career where they can work largely unaided in a role that offers huge responsibility. Train driving is ideal for young people.
‘If we want more frequent rail services in our communities, to enable economic growth, then we need to have the professional workforce to deliver it. We need to lower the age of train drivers, and we need to do it now.’
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