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Network Rail’s Wales and Borders route operates and maintains the railway across Wales and the border counties of England.
It links major towns and cities, including Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, Shrewsbury, Wrexham and Llandudno – connecting people, businesses and communities.
Network Rail Wales and Borders is working in partnership with Transport for Wales as part of a £5bn railway transformation. This requires continuous improvement of the infrastructure throughout Wales and its borders.
With teams focussing on delivering these upgrades, it is known that situational awareness can be lost as people concentrate on the task in hand. And so when there are open lines in the vicinity, it is vital that any human errors are stopped in their tracks. Whilst safety protocols exist, the consequences of staff inadvertently deviating onto open lines means that Network Rail is constantly looking to improve safety initiatives when staff are asked to work lineside.
Network Rail Wales and Borders used Tended’s geofencing technology to help protect the workforce carrying out de-vegetation, patrols and inspections alongside adjacent open lines. Working in trackside conditions with trains running up to 90 mph, teams were given Tended’s Wearables as secondary protection to increase the effectiveness of the Site Warden.
The system was applied in areas without any physical separation which, in some instances, relied upon line blocks and Site Warden observations. Teams of between 4 and 6 used the technology when working off-track.
Tended’s solution enabled a safe work zone to be created a 2 m distance from an adjacent open line, helping to ensure workers were immediately notified if they left safe working limits. This reduced the risk of a track worker straying from a safe working area or accessing or leaving the site outside of a position of safety.
Off-track teams found the technology useful in alerting them if they inadvertently crossed the safe zone boundary, helping them stay a safe distance from open lines at all times. This was done when undertaking devegetation works, providing support to the Site Warden.
Individuals working alone also benefited from being alerted during their inspection or patrolling activities.
Over the time that Network Rail Wales and Borders has been using Tended, the devices demonstrated accuracy of under 50 mm 97% of the time and accuracy under 300 mm 99.9% of the time, in line with Network Rail’s geofencing standard.
"Using Tended’s geofencing technology has enabled us to provide additional protection for our trackside teams when working alongside adjacent open lines. If we are working next to lines with trains travelling at high speeds without any barriers or fencing, we need to be confident in the safety systems we have in place.
Tended has provided additional peace of mind in these situations, letting workers know instantly if they were to leave safe working areas, helping to prevent anyone approaching an open line. We’ve been impressed with the accuracy of Tended’s technology and how our teams have responded to it, not only buying into its ability to help keep them safe, whilst remaining efficient when being deployed onsite."
