Your ‘go-to’ team
Our Engagement Managers connect our members with solutions. We interviewed our Head of Engagement to find out what advice they’ve been giving because you might benefit from it, too.
Matt Clements is no stranger to RSSB members. Having worked here for almost 20 years, currently in the Head of Engagement role, he’s been instrumental in connecting TOCs, FOCs, Network Rail, and other rail organisations with the right people and resources at the right time.
Horizon sat down with Matt to understand the journey our members have been on with us this past year—the challenges they’ve faced and how we’ve supported them. But first we had to clarify, for those who don’t know, exactly what Matt and his team do.
Some readers may have met you already. For those who haven’t, what do you do at RSSB, and why is your role important?
As Head of Engagement, I manage the team responsible for member and stakeholder relationship management. This includes members of both RSSB and CIRAS, our confidential safety hotline.
All RSSB staff regularly engage with members and the wider industry in some capacity, actively helping rail operations. But my team and I are charged with developing even deeper relationships.
We get under the skin of their organisations to understand the challenges they face. We then use our industry expertise and understanding of RSSB solutions to provide them with informed guidance and advice.
Does your team cover RSSB affiliates as well?
We’re only responsible for member relationships. We work closely with the affiliate team, however, which has a similar approach to relationship management. There are synergies between the two teams because some members are linked to affiliates. A classic example is TfL, which is an affiliate, but where the national rail contracts like London Overground and Elizabeth Line are full members.
You head up a team of six enthusiastic engagement and stakeholder managers. What are the advantages of RSSB members having these ‘bridges’ into our organisation and our resources?
My team, which is profiled here, has a wealth of industry and RSSB experience, with some having worked in rail before joining RSSB. They understand how rail businesses tick, what they’re up against, and how they can get the best out of RSSB to tackle challenges and improve operations and performance. But it’s a two-way relationship; our members have a conduit through which they can influence our business plan, services and resources, and the wider business. It’s all about trust.
You and your team hear first-hand about the challenges members face. What have they contended with this past year?
The railway is about to undergo substantial reform, which has caused some uncertainty and anxiety about the future. Reform is needed, and everyone wants it, but specifics on how it’s going to work and how quickly it’s going to happen are unknown.
TOCs in particular have faced greater operational challenges. They must operate a train service to expectation at a lesser cost, and that’s hard. They also face greater uncertainty about passenger travel patterns. Nowadays, it’s difficult to forecast when people might want to travel, and just putting that down to the pandemic and hybrid working is too simple. People are travelling—a lot—but we can’t always predict when.
Add to that higher customer expectations, which GTR’s Customer Services Director Jenny Saunders spoke about in a Horizon interview. Then there’s the more disquieting aspect of passenger behaviour: assaults against staff and antisocial behaviour. Jenny’s colleague Andy Leister, Head of On Board and Rail Enforcement, spoke about this recently.
Extreme weather events and climate change have been disrupters, too. Only last month did a storm and heavy rainfall cause disruptions and cancellations to different parts of the network. This was mostly due to flooding, with several routes across Wales among those affected. Meanwhile, the train crash in mid-Wales in October was a poignant reminder that adhesion is an ongoing challenge.
Combined, these challenges test the industry. But most people in the street don’t see that our railway does work and deliver most of the time. So, yes, we need to ensure we understand the challenges and resolve them, but we’re to be thankful for rail and its strengths. The railway has amazing people, doing an incredible job under difficult conditions.
What RSSB solutions have you recommended to help address these challenges?
We get a lot of positive feedback on our Risk and Safety Intelligence team’s data request service. They help operators extract data from SMIS so they can identify hazards and do risk analysis.
Avanti West Coast, for example, has utilised this service for its safety communications to passengers over Christmas. As you can imagine, risks in stations are greater during the festive season because passengers have more luggage or are letting their hair down.In case readers don’t know, SMIS will soon be replaced with Safe Insights, an improved tool that will reduce the time it takes to process individual safety incidents into the database.
There’s also keen interest in our Rail Social Value Tool, which we created to allow rail organisations to include social value considerations when assessing investment in projects and activities. Social value is of great importance to many members, and there's huge pressure on operators to measure it.
Sticking with sustainability, I think members take comfort in the Sustainable Rail Blueprint. It provides a common view of the challenges and maps out how the industry wants to deal with them. It turned one last month.
Those examples show how we’re responding to more wide-scale industry challenges and needs. But have there been occasions when we’ve helped operators with more unique requests?
We have a wealth of services and resources to respond to the common industry pressures and the individual needs of our members. At any one time, we could be asked to support them with almost any challenge. Prime example: a member of our System Safety and Health team delivered a SPAD review for Southeastern. Inspired by the review, the TOC developed a SPAD risk handbook using info from it.
Have you been inspired by the work of any of our members this year?
Our members do a lot of inspirational work. The industry effort to improve performance and ensure passengers are safe and satisfied is substantial.
I’ve taken inspiration from Avanti West Coast’s Christmas safety campaign. They launched a low-alcohol beer, ‘Safety Thirst’, to promote more careful behaviour on trains and on stations at a time when the merriment can take over. It was creative. It leveraged our safety data and media endorsement, and it got great coverage. It helped Avanti shape their messages. It was a great campaign to be associated with.
If I were a senior rail leader, I’d want an Engagement Manager in my corner. How can our members, who don’t already, benefit from the work you and your team do?
Many of our members have a single point of contact who becomes their buddy—their go-to. But every Engagement Manager is available to members. We always want to know what our members are facing, and we’ll always try to help.
Matt manages six enthusiastic engagement and stakeholder managers who actively help our members in their operations.
Meet them
