The railway emergency management (REM) client has been in use in Sydney Trains’ rail operations centre (ROC) by incident managers since December 2018, while the mobile application and web portal is being deployed to all its customer service teams over a four-week period in June, following a successful pilot with 150 users in May. The client allows operators to enter incident information in real-time, increasing efficiency and boosting operational performance.
The New South Wales government plans to expand Sydney’s network with driverless metro operation, much of it underground, to cope with growing congestion. The first line opened on May 26, an extension will open in 2024, followed by a second metro line and a link to Sydney’s new airport.
Sydney Trains is aiming to improve customer experience, reduce delays and centralise 14 control centres into one streamlined ROC, in anticipation of expected network growth.
“Rail passenger numbers in Sydney are set to double by 2024,” says Sydney Trains ROC programme director, Mr Geoff Howard. “A step-by-step modernisation of Sydney’s rail network has incorporated many different operational functions and systems into a single location, including implementing the ICM from Frequentis. Being able to respond and recover from incidents faster will ensure that we can cater for the projected capacity increases and meet the customer demand of the future.”
The Frequentis ICM solution centrally captures information including emergency contact numbers for local contractors and emergency services. Staff have information relevant for a specific location available and can record, manage and access incidents from a mobile device, web portal or desktop client.
“The sophisticated software engine manages incidents based on the time, location and classification of the occurrence,” says Frequentis vice-president, public transport, Mr Thomas Karl. “By accelerating information sharing between operational staff, incidents can be resolved faster and passengers are kept moving.”
