Training and drilling of staff to respond to heavily-disrupted situations

Heavily-disrupted situations are something railways have to handle as part of their daily business. Routine processes are insufficient to resolve them, unfamiliar stakeholders may be involved, and staff are under pressure. This makes such situations more difficult to manage, sometimes causing incidents or even accidents. In such situations, the role of staff is crucial; human decision-making is often safety-critical. The training and drilling of staff to cope with such situations is therefore a very effective tool in improving the way they are managed. This study is aimed at managers, safety experts, and trainers. It pools the experience of various member companies of the UIC Safety Platform in order to draw lessons and make recommendations to help better prepare staff to cope with heavily-disrupted situations. Ordinary disruptions (delayed trains, defective turnouts without major consequences on traffic) and serious accidents requiring third-party intervention (emergency services, civil defence, police/judicial investigation, media, etc.) are excluded.