Accuracy of actual working hours recorded is questioned in fatigue concern.

c2c train

© Trenitalia c2c

Concern

A reporter to CIRAS was concerned about how Trenitalia c2c drivers’ hours were being recorded.  They mentioned two locations – Shoeburyness and East Ham – as examples. 

According to the reporter, when drivers are working ‘as required’, the hours recorded on the TRACSIS system are not being adjusted to include hours worked in addition to hours rostered.  Therefore, hours worked are not accurately captured.  Extra hours not captured include when drivers are travelling as passengers after signing on, or when waiting at a station or depot to pick up a service.

The reporter believed that this inaccuracy is due to the adjustment being manual rather than automatic.  They were concerned that this could impact the reliability of the fatigue index used for drivers, which in turn could result in a SPAD or other operational incident.  They asked Trenitalia c2c to ensure that actual hours worked are accurately recorded when working as required, and to consider automating the process of updating the hours. 

Trenitalia c2c's response

After receiving the report, the head of service delivery initiated a review of the effectiveness of the current processes for recording hours worked, involving the service delivery managers, service and resourcing managers and the drivers’ health and safety representative.

This review identified a number of scenarios where a turn of duty could be better recorded to reflect more accurately the actual hours worked.  These typically involved ‘as required’ duties, where a manual adjustment had to be made to the automated TRACSIS system.  The review found that these manual adjustments were not always being made.  A process that allows for making manual adjustments to the automated TRACSIS system has been developed and briefed to all those directly involved.  There are other scenarios, for example where advance notice has been given of a change to the signing-on location, and these will be reviewed by the Service Delivery team working closely with the drivers’ health and safety representative.

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