Improving system reliability and resilience

2025-26 Commitments

Building resilience for a reliable rail network

To improve system reliability, we'll focus on reducing disruptions, preventing collisions, and addressing fatigue. Through new guidance to manage disruption, adhesion tools, driver alertness monitoring, targeted training, and improved data, we'll enhance resilience. View the roadmap and scroll to explore our detailed plan.

The problem and our approach

Operational performance remains the biggest challenge across the rail industry. We will continue to focus on employee-centred solutions.

Our approach will be based on our many insights gained from working collaboratively with all parts of the sector. This gives us a unique breadth and depth of understanding while staying focused on the industry as a whole.

2025-26 Commitments

We will:

provide tools and guidance to reduce cancellations and improve services for passenger and freight operators. We will research new, safe, and efficient methods of working during disruptions. This includes single line working and how to manage communications between train drivers and control. This will help operators and infrastructure managers (IMs) to keep trains moving safely as well as improve the use of relevant technology.
help prevent collisions like those at Salisbury and Talerddig. We will develop a tool to help identify appropriate and cost effective adhesion mitigations. This tool will enable users to consider local requirements, local conditions, and the features of rolling stock. This work is co-funded by ROSCOs and Network Rail. It will benefit operators, rolling stock owners, and IMs so that they can achieve the adhesion levels for a safe railway efficiently.
tackle fatigue, which is one of several causes in some accidents. We will enhance reliability and resilience by using driver alertness monitoring (DAM) technology in a pilot study. The study will assess DAM’s ability to reduce the loss of driver alertness and attention. It will also give insights into the causes. We will share our analysis and insights with the trial companies and the wider industry.
upskill staff by piloting a more targeted and trainee-centric competence-based training for train drivers. We have developed this new competence-based training with industry. It will replace the existing time-based approach to practical handling training.

improve insights on overspeed events by enabling targeted action to reduce risk and improve resilience. Currently, data on these events is incomplete, and investigations are inconsistent. We will identify overspeed data sources and parameters to strengthen future investigations.
provide whole-system responses that can balance safety, cost, and performance. We will improve our risk modelling capability, by focussing on the impact of external factors such as weather on safety risks.
meet government expectations to enhance resilience to systemic risks. We will develop foresight and horizon scanning services in the areas of strategic risk and resilience management. These include climate change, security threats, and technological challenges. We will share our specialist foresight and horizon scanning expertise and support the development of our members’ in-house capability.

enhance assurance, interoperability, and efficiency while lowering costs, by clarifying the needs of on-board driver machine interface (DMI) in European Train Control Systems. We will do this by including the application experiences of equipment suppliers as well as lessons learned from the East Coast route. We will update GERT8402 Issue 3 to reflect best practice in implementing on-board DMI equipment and software.
lead the industry's climate change adaptation and resilience programme. We will support the industry in achieving our natural environment goals by empowering members to develop effective strategies that drive measurable improvement. These include preparing for a changing climate, achieving zero waste, and conserving water.