RSSB2732 - T1156 Managing driver behaviours through adhesion-related information flows

railway.

The GB rail industry invests considerable resource to manage adhesion but, despite these efforts, low adhesion issues have a significant financial impact on industry and wider society.

The impact of low adhesion can also result in future capacity constraints, for instance, as a barrier to efficient implementation of the European Train Control System (ETCS) and Automatic Train Operation (ATO).

An effect of low adhesion is its impact on train drivers' behaviour, which can reduce driver confidence and morale and potentially contribute to significant delays during the leaf-fall season.

It is therefore desirable to have a greater understanding of the adhesion-related information that is provided to drivers and the extent to which they act (or are able to act) upon it, in order to improve driver confidence and performance in low-adhesion conditions.

This project directly supports the 'Driver Behaviours' workstream, which constitutes part of the ADHEsion REsearch challenge (ADHERE) Programme of work.

ADHERE sets out to: • Achieve 'adhesion conditions that are unaffected by and independent of the weather and climate' • Address industry's gaps in knowledge with new insight • Help improve how industry manages low adhesion by demonstrating and developing novel approaches and solutions ADHERE was developed with and is governed by the Adhesion Research Group (ARG) and focuses on five key workstreams: 3.

Objectives This research will assess and evaluate the adhesion-related information provided to train drivers and propose changes and/or additions to information provision to enable drivers to drive more confidently during the leaf-fall season.

The project's objectives are to: • Identify what information is currently provided to drivers • Identify what current information drivers use to adjust driving behaviours (and how that varies based on adhesion and weather conditions, route, rolling stock, driver experience, etc) • Identify what additional, or more appropriate, information could be provided to meet drivers' needs • Develop proposal(s) for how information is presented (what, when, where and how) • Clarify the proposed approach with managers and train drivers RSSB has secured support from four Train Operating Companies (TOCs), which the supplier will undertake targeted engagement with.

To ensure the that the findings are applicable across industry, the supplier will also be expected to undertake high-level engagement with other TOCs and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs) to assess adhesion-related information flow policies and practices.