Ten minutes with...
Network Rail Service Delivery Supervisor Tom Payne
Tom PayneNetwork Rail Service Delivery Supervisor
My granddad was a signaller back in the day and I was drawn by the variety of roles on the railway. So, when Network Rail advertised for its talent pool, I applied and landed a job as a signaller.
I started in a single-person box at Halifax. Staffing levels soon saw me become a relief signaller, working Milner Royd and Hebden Bridge—both lever frame boxes.
At Milner Royd, I would relieve my colleague at the start of the shift. I may not have face-to-face contact with another human until the next person relieved me. You were alone, but it was almost like being alone with friends. You knew you had people either side of you in a similar boat.
While I was keen to solve problems myself, I reached out to signallers when I had questions. I always got great advice and tips.
The coping techniques for lone working, like the ones mentioned in RED 70, came later when I was a bit more established. We’re all cogs in a machine. If one falls out, the machine stops working. Everyone's got to do their bit. Once you see that, reaching out is much easier.
My next job was at Doncaster, on their CCTV panel. It looked after five level crossings, and car or lorry drivers often tried to beat the lights. Traffic would often back up. Sometimes lorries would try to beat the barriers and knock them off as they passed.
After a spell as a Grade 9 signaller, I became a shift signalling manager. And then, in December 2024, I moved into a service delivery supervisor role in the East Coast Service Delivery Centre, York. It’s a bit like an SSM but with some traffic management system responsibilities.
The first a signaller knows about a SPAD is an alarm in the box. On more modern systems, there’ll be an audible and visual alert. On older systems, it’s about keeping vigilant to see if any track circuits become occupied beyond a red.
Once that happens, we spring into action. We use the GSM-R and make an urgent or emergency call to the driver. If we need to reach all trains in the area, we make a Railway Emergency Call, of course.
Once we’ve got confirmation that trains have been brought under control, we go through the incident with the driver. We pass the information from the SPAD forms to control, and they take over.
Now, when an incident occurs, I make sure the recovery plan is implemented correctly. I’ll work with control and the operators to get the response staff out to the site.
The signaller in the RED 70 drama got overrun with problems and issues and noise from all sides. I’m also there to minimise that on my patch, either personally or by asking someone to go and assist.
I’ve come full circle, as now I pass my knowledge on to the new signallers as they come out of training. They share their own ideas with me, too.
