Case study: delivery of weekly operating notices
14 March 2024
Issues with delivering weekly operating notices (WONs) to train crew were resolved.
Weekly operating notices (WONs) were not delivered consistently to train crew at St Patrick’s House in Cardiff. WONs detail changes to rules. The reporter to CIRAS said a WON is the only way train crew know about temporary speed restrictions and temporary engineering works. Without it, they may be unaware of restrictions or changes.
Although there are warning boards on the line during temporary speed restrictions, these don’t tell drivers the distance the restriction covers, and the WON does. Without this extra information, drivers might falsely think they have missed a terminating board showing the end of the restriction and increase their speed.
People can access WONs on a mobile phone, but not all train crew have company phones and it’s not clear if they can use personal phones for this. There may also be a gap in ordering and distributing WONs, with a lack of assigned responsibility to make sure that train crew receive them.
Transport for Wales (TfW) investigated and identified a difficulty with delivering WONs because the delivery contractor couldn’t park close enough without leaving their vehicle in an unsafe position on a busy road. After TfW engaged with the building manager and the contractor, there is now a parking space available in the car park.
Monitoring of the deliveries shows that the WONs are now being delivered as planned.