As part of its commitment to workforce safety, Network Rail Western explored innovative solutions to help reduce risk to its track teams during planned maintenance works. This case study outlines how the deployment of Tended’s geofencing technology helped to enhance operational effectiveness and improve safety across the Great Western Mainline.
The primary goals of this project were to evidence how geofencing technology can:
Bring safety enhancements to track workers through the use of safe zones, access and egress points and track orientation
Support the placement of protection equipment such as worksite marker boards (WSMBs) and possession limit boards (PLBs)
Improve worksite visibility by monitoring the location of on-track plant (OTP) and on-track machinery (OTM) and their speed
Reduce the risk of objects left on the line and support with the line clear verification process
The project also aimed to demonstrate that teams could use Tended’s system independently as part of business as usual (BAU) and successfully embed it into daily processes, governance structures and organisational culture.
Tended partnered with Network Rail Western’s Workforce Safety team and RSS Infrastructure (RSSI) to deploy geofencing and geotagging across maintenance teams in Swindon, Bristol, and Didcot. RSSI provided onsite support, helping teams become confident with the technology.
A dedicated Tended Implementation Manager worked with Network Rail to create standard operating procedures and gather feedback to adapt the system for Western route use cases.
The project began with OLE teams in Bristol and a track team in Swindon, with deployments carried out across Chippenham, Swindon, Didcot, and London Paddington.
The project successfully achieved the objectives set out at the start of the deployment, providing Network Rail Western with evidence of the benefits of the technology and how to effectively roll it out across the route.
Helping teams maintain a safe distance from open lines:
Tended’s devices notified workers if they exited the designated safe zone boundary, which had been set two metres away from running lines. This alert helped them regain situational awareness and move back to a position of safety.
Safe access, egress and cess areas were created to facilitate the use of correct access points and positions of safety during open line working.
Safe zones were also created for line blocks, which could then be either activated or deactivated in line with the signaller’s authorisation of the block. These geofenced areas would act as a safety measure, triggering device alerts to notify track workers, COSSs and PICs if they attempted to access track before the lineblock was granted.
For possession work, the device would signal to the Engineering Supervisor (ES), Engineering Supervisor Assistance (ESA), and Possession Support Staff (PSS) whether they were using the correct access point, or if the lines were still open and not yet safe to access.
Tended’s Dashboard could also be viewed on a tablet and used by teams for track orientation, helping them confirm the direction of the tracks and supporting safe access to the worksite.
Supporting with the correct placement of boards:
WSMB and PLB placement irregularities were avoided at all times during the deployment.
Device alerts notified ESs, ESAs, and PSS when they reached worksite or possession limits, providing an indication of where to place boards.
The ESs and person in charge of possession (PICOP) were able to use the Dashboard’s Live Map View to confirm that the placement of boards was in line with the planned location, helping to prevent significant delays associated with them being placed in the wrong location.
Supporting the safe movement of OTP around the site:
Using the Live View on the Dashboard, the ES and PICOP could view the real-time location and movements of plant and machinery on the infrastructure. This helped to reduce the risk of them travelling towards boards or accessing areas which were beyond their working limits.
With the RAG View, the ES and PICOP could easily view device distance from the worksite boundary and speed of each associated piece of plant or machinery.
Reducing the risk of objects left on the line:
Throughout the project, Tended’s system effectively helped prevent any objects or on-track assets, such as plant, machinery and trolleys, from being left on the line after work completion.
The Live Map View provided visibility of asset locations, allowing the ES to confirm that all equipment was removed from the infrastructure before the possession was handed back.
An alert on the Dashboard notified the ES of any equipment still onsite, ensuring no remaining items were within the designated worksite limits.
The project showed that geofencing gives live visibility of assets on track, reducing the risk of equipment being left behind and creating a verifiable digital record of deployment.
This transforms line-clear verification from a manual task into a streamlined digital process, improving safety, efficiency, and saving around 10 minutes in high-traffic areas like Paddington.
Gaining buy in from the teams:
Tended’s dedicated Implementation Manager, the Western Workforce Safety team’s attentive support remotely and on-site, and onsite presence from RSSI allowed the Network Rail Western teams to quickly build knowledge and confidence in using the geofencing and geotagging technology across line block and possession use cases.
Situational awareness sessions conducted by Tended’s Implementation and Behavioural Science teams, followed by ongoing support for pilot participants on site helped to drive engagement among teams.
User feedback gathered throughout the project helped facilitate the adoption of the technology into BAU by bringing teams into the journey and using their input to shape the deployment.
Additional outcomes:
Tended also successfully delivered a major geotagging implementation on the complex infrastructure approaching Paddington Station. The devices demonstrated strong performance with a high level of accuracy, evidencing the effectiveness of the system in built up environments.
This further evidenced the power of the system where complicated track layouts, and proximity of non-Network Rail infrastructure (such as the TfL lines at Paddington) can cause confusion and increase risk to track teams. While this implementation was not in the original scope, it has demonstrated the technology’s widespread applicability and efficiency benefits across the entire Western route.
Next steps:
Working collaboratively, Tended has supported Network Rail Western in laying the groundwork to embed geofencing seamlessly into existing processes while improving the efficiency of day-to-day operations. Building on the success of this deployment, Network Rail Western is in a strong position to roll out Tended’s geofencing technology across the route, actively exploring new use cases and integrating it into more teams to further elevate safety standards and efficiency across their operations.
Nick Galliott, Planning & Line Block SME at Network Rail Western said: “Through our recent trial of Tended’s geofencing technology, we have been able to see firsthand the potential benefits that such solutions can bring to the Western route in enhancing workforce safety and operational effectiveness. We value the positive engagement we have had with Tended and look forward to continuing to work alongside them as we explore this and other technologies to set higher standards for safety across the Western Route.”
