Control Period 7 (CP7) is Network Rail’s next regulatory period, with the delivery of works taking place between 2024 and 2029. Last year, it was announced in the statements of funds available (SoFas) that Network Rail will be provided with £27.5bn to spend over CP7, and is expected to contribute £16.5bn, totalling £44bn for the management of its rail infrastructure over the next five years.
On Friday, 19th May 2023, Network Rail released its strategic business plan for Control Period 7 (England & Wales), which sets out what it intends to deliver and how it will invest its £44 billion in the operations, maintenance and renewal of the railway in England and Wales.
Safety challenges on the UK’s rail network
Managing safety, health and security risks, as far as reasonably practicable, is at the heart of Network Rail’s CP7 plans. Safety remains a top priority; in particular, making it safe to go to work for those conducting these essential CP7. maintenance and renewals.
Network Rail states: “The safety of our workforce is critical to keeping the railway moving and meeting customer needs. Our analysis shows that the biggest risks to our workforce are being struck by a train, coming into contact with high energy electric systems, use of plant (on track plant and factory equipment) and driving.”
With many shocking and sometimes fatal incidents occurring throughout CP6, Network Rail also highlights that improving safety culture is core to its safety strategy for CP7. The plan details creating an operational culture that puts safety at the centre of everything that Network Rail delivers.
Using technology to get everyone home safe, every day
The CP7 strategy highlights Network Rail’s plans to use technology to tackle these safety risks for workers - particularly technology that addresses human error:
“In a business with around 39,500 staff (and double that when the supply chain is included), we must mitigate human error through automation and technology wherever possible. Our CP7 plan includes £138m investment in technology to support safety.”
Network Rail specifies its investment in new technologies which can help overcome the challenges of human error in safety “such as remote disconnection devices, geofencing and drone technology”, allocating £66 million.
Furthermore, the strategy outlines a £323 million investment into Network Rail’s Electrical Safety Delivery programme to support the safe operation and maintenance of the railway. This programme, which spans three control periods from 2019 to 2034, will deploy new technology to “isolate the electricity to sections of the railway more quickly and more safely to reduce the risk of colleagues coming into contact with high-energy electric systems.”
Network Rail also highlights its plans to implement a plant operations improvement programme, which “includes fitting anti-collision technology for on-track plant.”
Geofencing - an innovative solution for the rail industry
CP7 places a focus on building bigger and better rail systems as well as continual maintenance and upgrade programmes that require trackside planning and work. The people who carry out these essential works to maintain and renew our railways face several safety risks, including moving trains, moving plant, and exposure to high-voltage electricity.
That’s not to mention working trackside can be for long hours and in all conditions, and so factors such as fatigue, monotony, unpredictability, adverse weather, poor visibility and high-pressure situations can all contribute to susceptibility to distractions, mistakes and risk of human error. This increased risk of human error in an already highly precarious environment makes working trackside perhaps the most dangerous in the industry.
Fortunately, Network Rail’s latest business plan pinpoints technology as a solution to help provide a fail-safe against the potential of human error and help organisations reduce reliance solely on human factors to keep the workforce safe. Clearly, we are entering a new transformative era for track worker safety.
The plan highlights geofencing as a tool to further improve workforce safety. Using geofencing, safe zones can be mapped out on site and, with a wearable device, workers are alerted the moment they are no longer in a position of safety, keeping them out of the path of moving trains. Geofences can also be used to create isolation limits around electrical currents, which will come into play as part of Network Rail’s £323 million Electrical Safety Delivery programme to keep track workers away from high-voltage electricity. In the future, we’ll also be able to create 3D isolation limit zones, using vertical geofences.
The same technology can also be applied to the positioning of critical equipment. Users can accurately plot and monitor the location of assets, including marker and possession limit boards, as well as on-track plant. This will reduce the risk of assets being misplaced or left behind and also contributes to Network Rail’s plans to improve plant safety and reduce the risk of collisions.
What does this mean for track worker safety?
Network Rail’s strategic business plan for CP7 demonstrates a strong commitment to the safety of track workers and outlines significant investments in technology to help overcome the potentially fatal consequences of human error.
For over two years, Tended worked with Network Rail to develop incredibly precise geofencing technology going through rigorous R&D and live trials with its trackside teams. In September 2022, the solution received product acceptance for use on UK railway infrastructure and is now being deployed across multiple Routes and by principal contractors.
Tended’s vision for this technology is to transform the face of safety on the railway and significantly reduce, if not eliminate, preventable accidents, near-misses and fatalities involving trackside workers on the UK’s rail network. To see this come to fruition as part of Network Rail’s CP7 plan illustrates not only their commitment to improving track worker safety, but also places a spotlight on geofencing technology as the next revolutionary step in track worker safety.
By catalysing its use across the railway industry, we can help to improve safety for as many track workers as possible, helping to get everyone home safe - every day. Learn more about how geofencing technology is transforming the safety of trackside workers here.
