Case study: control room resourcing
08 July 2025
CrossCountry’s control room was significantly understaffed one day.
A notice to all train crew asked them to only contact control in an emergency and said there would be a delay in responses. There was no duty control manager: a role with safety-critical responsibilities.
The reporter wasn’t sure if there was a contingency plan and if it was actioned. They also believed it indicated control team resourcing issues and highlighted operational vulnerabilities. An understaffed control room could impede the ability to resolve or contain incidents.
CrossCountry said when no duty control manager is on duty, a member of on-call command or a suitable person from train service delivery management acts as control supervisor to provide leadership and coordination. Safety-critical decisions are delegated to competent on-call managers.
On the day, the head of train service delivery, who had been a competent duty control manager, was acting control supervisor. This coincided with two route controller roles having no cover because of leave and sickness. There have been controller vacancies due to retirement, resignation, and promotion. All are now filled or being recruited, but with delays from notice periods and training.
CrossCountry is revising the cover process for duty control managers. It is working on an extra process so that a safety-critical duty control manager stand-in is always available at short notice. This will upskill and develop other control roles.
Duty control manager roles have increased from six to eight, providing more planned cover. The company is also looking at average attrition-based recruitment, not just backfilling control roles, considering notice periods and how long it takes to train a controller.