The Role of Operations in a Mega Project

It is a truism that all railway projects require “operational input” throughout their lifecycle. This paper defines the role of the operator, and identifies the inputs which an operator could (or should) make during project development.

For the purposes of this paper ‘Operator’ is the entity which plans, monitors, resources and executes the train plan. The Operator implements recovery processes to return the railway to plan after a failure. The Operator is the custodian of the rules and procedures for the completed railway. For the completed railway the role of the operator may be accommodated within several different organisations (for example Network Rail and Train Operating Companies). Therefore the operational ‘guiding mind’ may vary during the course of the project. For example the ‘guiding mind’ for the Crossrail train operations rests with Rail for London, but will in due course rest with a concessionaire train operator albeit working to a framework determined by RfL. The disciplines within operations vary –strategic system view, passenger flow modelling, train service modelling, application of rules and standards, resourcing, incident management, and the emphasis will change over the course of a project.