Unifying the tracks: how collaboration powers rail
The GB railway has hundreds of disparate organisations, with thousands of interfaces. How do they collaborate to let each play its part effectively?
Anna PlodowskiSenior content and editorial manager, RSSB
The GB railway is a complicated system with hundreds of organisations, and thousands of interfaces. Smooth working means each player must understand and respect everyone else’s needs. This is where RSSB groups and committees come in.
Collaboration pools expertise and produces greater innovation. Identifying common solutions reduces operating costs and improves efficiency. Rail needs to make decisions that work for everyone. If there’s conflict – and sometimes there will be – it needs to find a way through. But rail organisations must come together to communicate even when there is conflict.
We do this using best practice adapted from the World Trade Organisation. That best practice is through groups and committees.
It may feel like bringing people together slows things down, but in the long term, it does the exact opposite. One person can make a single choice faster. But it's less likely to be the right decision that avoids unwanted knock-on effects. Collaborative decisions tend to be more:
Efficient: addressing problems in ways that work for everyone brings cost savings
Effective: in a complex system like rail, many problems can’t be solved in isolation
Innovative: bringing different views together increases the boundaries of the possible
Collaborative decisions tend to provide higher levels of assurance. The ORR’s Risk Management Maturity Model looks for evidence of it.
Collaboration decisions are consensus decisions. That doesn't mean that everyone has to agree. But it does mean there's no-one with strong objections being overruled.
Virtually every RSSB service or resource is commissioned, overseen, governed or approved by a cross-industry group. Each group has representatives from around the industry. These might include passenger and freight operators, rolling stock owners, or infrastructure suppliers. Other specialists include experts in safety, health, and data analytics.
Groups must make the right decisions effectively. Governance – the systems and structures they use to do their work – is key. We act as an ‘honest broker’ for these groups, and provide and organise the evidence each group needs.
In a complex system like the railway, every decision has consequences. Our groups work to ensure these are foreseen and positive so our standards, best practice, and advice are as useful and valuable as possible.
The aim is to increase the amount of thought and skill that goes into making rail safer and smarter. And to ensure that early thinking, working through potential problems. This makes implementation faster and more cost-effective, with fewer mistakes.
The power of this approach comes from collaboration and consensus, but consensus can take time. The turnaround time for standards is between 9 and 18 months. This reflects robust creation processes, insertion of leading expert thinking, and checking and double-checking by the industry.
RSSB committees search far and wide for relevant expertise. For instance, the Trespass and Suicide Prevention Working Group includes representatives from train operators, freight operators, infrastructure managers, and the British Transport Police. It also works closely with the Samaritans.
We’re always looking for new expertise. If your organisation isn’t involved already, we urge you to take part. Your own particular expertise can make a difference.
The more participation we attract, the more impact we can all have. Over the years, we’ve encouraged and led cross-industry safety data collection. This has demonstrated rail safety improvements. We’re piloting a similar data-led approach to health, working with 20 companies.
In 2023-24, this work saved rail at least £527 million. This came mostly from decisions enabled by our groups and committees – and the expertise and insight they bring to the table.
Get a snapshot of industry groups and committees are structured.
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