Our customer spotlight series places a focus firmly on our clients and partners leveraging Tended's geofencing technology to protect trackside teams, and the inspiring work they're doing to improve safety on our railways.
Siemens Mobility is a leading provider of transport solutions and has been an integral part of the UK rail industry for over 160 years. The company is an innovator of sustainable and efficient transport solutions and provides services to infrastructure managers, including Network Rail, Transport for London and London Underground.
A champion of innovative technologies, Siemens was looking for an effective solution to improve safety, efficiency and operations for its railway projects. So, it set out to implement Tended’s geofencing technology to provide additional workforce protection as well as help better plan worksites and monitor critical assets.
Starting with an initial pilot in Northumberland, Siemens then progressed to a small-scale deployment throughout Devon and Cornwall to test the implementation of the technology into their business-as-usual processes. Over the course of 6 months, Siemens used geofencing across different teams and work activities, ensuring its suitability for the varied and complex projects they deliver within the rail industry.
Eddie Bell, Lead Possessions Planning Engineer at Siemens said: "We have implemented Tended's geofencing technology to support site safety and efficiency. It provides a warning and additional protection for our track teams when working separated from open lines, helping them regain situational awareness and reducing the risk of them stepping outside of safe working limits.The accuracy of Tended's system has helped us to ensure the correct placement of marker boards while also providing the exact location of OTP and OTM and onsite assets such as trolleys. This visibility helps ensure that all equipment has been cleared from the line at the end of the works.This cutting-edge technology has revolutionised our operations, granting an unprecedented level of visibility into our worksites. With the incorporation of geofencing, our operations team continues to discover fresh applications, thanks to our close collaboration with Tended. We are actively exploring other areas this technology can support us on-site with our dedicated engineering supervisors and look forward to finding new ways to enhance our operational safety and efficiency."
Siemens used geofencing to improve safety as part of a major signalling upgrade project in South-West England
As part of Network Rail’s multi-million-pound programme to improve the signalling in Cornwall, Tended's technology was used across an expansive 70-mile worksite with a 30-hour blockade. Spanning a route across Cornwall, including Truro, Falmouth and Liskeard, Siemens implemented the technology to help improve the safety of those working on these upgrades, as well as give the ES complete visibility of its 10 RRVs operating across the worksite.
Tended's system has also been used by Siemens' teams working on the East Coast Digital Programme
Siemens has been using Tended's system for its Welwyn to Hitchin project, upgrading signalling in Hertfordshire for Network Rail's East Coast Digital Programme. As part of this, geofencing was implemented during a 96-hour blockade from 23rd – 26th December, in which 70 wearables were used to help ensure track workers didn’t stray from safe working limits, with a further 25 devices used to provide complete visibility of their onsite RRVs.
The successful integration of geofencing into these projects has been such a success due to Siemens' drive and support in championing the use of geofencing and so seamlessly integrating the technology into its day-to-day operations.
Over the course of its deployment of geofencing across both projects, Siemens implemented the technology to support site safety and efficiency across a range of use cases, including:
- Improving the efficiency of site planning and ES briefings by having full worksite visibility and seeing the live location of equipment such as tampers and RRVs
- Helping to ensure the correct placement of marker boards and other safety equipment
- Adding an extra layer of protection for workers undertaking lift and packing of on-track ballast and other p-way activities carried out during shifts near adjacent open lines
- Supporting off-track teams carrying out essential lineside activities when in a separated site of work
- Supporting teams working in line blockages next to adjacent open lines, and also when teams have needed to safely set up and operate within larger possessions with plant and machine movements
Outcomes
As we know, it’s incredibly hard to navigate the railway and sometimes, in the difficult conditions presented when working trackside, people can lose situational awareness. Human error is inevitable, particuarly in high-stress environments.
Siemens’s deployment of geofencing has helped to significantly reduce the risk of this and helped provide a preventative measure against any chance of human error, as evidented in the below examples...
- Siemens successfully implemented geofencing as an additional form of protection for its p-way civils and off-track teams as well as improving visibility over critical onsite assets and vehicles.
- Geofencing supported Siemens on an occasion where three points operators were unavailable during a shift. With a real-time view of vehicles on the dashboard, Siemens were able to identify movements and assign points operators ahead of vehicles arriving at a set of points, minimising downtime and reducing risk of damage to the infrastructure.
- Siemens were able to immediately identify a worker heading in the wrong direction to place a site marker board by comparing it to the planned location on the dashboard. This enabled corrective action to be taken immediately, preventing around 30 minutes of delays for the c. 300 workers allocated to that project.
Following the success of this deployment and the safety and efficiency benefits that have been achieved, Siemens is now rolling out Tended’s solution nationally to extend these benefits to all areas of its business.
Mike Sharp, Head of Infrastructure Access at Siemens said: “Following the success of the geofencing trials over the past 6 months, we are very excited to be rolling out the technology on a national level. Having worked alongside Tended throughout our previous deployments, we have been impressed with their approach to innovation and willingness to explore new ideas. We look forward to continuing to see the positive impact of the technology across work functions and our operational efficiency. We’re proud to say that this deployment is in line with our commitment to innovation and safety improvements, and we’re excited to see the difference across our business.”
We're now also working with Siemens on a £1.4m project supported by the European Space Agency
Partnering with Siemens, RTKF Net, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, Story Contracting and RSS Infrastructure, we're now being supported by the European Space Agency to further advance our technology and develop our worksite management system. This means in addition to enhancing the safety of track workers, we're also able to completely modernise worksite operations to help prevent trackside incidents involving assets and equipment.
Eddie Bell, Lead Possessions Planning Engineer at Siemens said: “At Siemens, we’re very excited about our involvement in the development of Tended’s worksite management program. As a global leader in technology and innovation, we recognise the paramount importance of workforce safety in today's dynamic and evolving rail industry landscape. This collaboration presents a unique opportunity for us to combine our expertise with that of other industry leaders and the European Space Agency, pooling our collective knowledge and resources to drive meaningful advancements in safety protocols and practices. We look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Together, we will set new standards for workforce safety, pushing boundaries with first-of-a-kind technologies and reaffirming our commitment to the wellbeing of our workforce.”
