Case Study

Thameslink Core Alert System

Providing real-time updates happening on the Thameslink network, visualising to all 4 Network Rail and GTR control centres the latest status of incidents.

Map of the London Underground with station names including Finsbury Park, Kentish Town, St. Pancras International, King's Cross, Farringdon, City Thameslink, London Blackfriars, Elephant & Castle, New Cross Gate, and Deptford.

The Challenge

Working with GTR and Network Rail, a problem was identified that existing tools only provide static, moment-in-time updates and rely heavily on user interaction, often resulting in missing or outdated information.

From our discussion, the Thameslink core was particularly identified as being affected by a lack of cross-route communication, further complicating effective service recovery.

System Overview

  • A digital dashboard display showing updates about train service status for different lines and incidents, including scheduled repairs, live incidents, and service recoveries for several regions.

    Live Alert Dashboard

    Customised for the requirements of the Thameslink network, spanning across 4 Network Rail Control Centre Regions. Featuring ‘Live Route Tiles’ colour-coded to indicate status of Route.

    The system auto-refreshes to instantly ensure the latest, up-to-date information is displayed.

  • Screenshot of a Core Alerts System showing incident logs, including details like owner, route, timestamps, location, severity, and descriptions of incidents affecting railway stations.

    Incident Log

    A full incident log is created, documenting the entire history of an incident. Ideal for auditing, reporting, team briefings or lesson learnt purposes.

  • Digital display screen showing updates about flooding at Copenhagen Tunnel and a live incident alert for a trespass incident from Deptford Station to North Kent East Junction, with details such as creation time, lines involved, last huddle, and additional information, along with a notification window for a new incident alert.

    Notifications

    Instant web notifications to quickly indicate changes to status. Even when system is idle, CAS is designed to ensure communication of key moments. This ensures incidents are prioritised in the best possible way.

Group of five professionals standing together in front of a digital display showing service status updates on the control alerts system. They are in an rail control room, smiling at the camera.

CAS in Action

By utilising our specialist software knowledge and consulting skills, in collaboration with JF Rail, we were able to successfully develop and deploy the Core Alerts System into operational control centres across the Thameslink network (Three Bridges ROC, NR Kent KICC, NR East Midlands, NR York, NR West Hampstead ROC).

This implementation has allowed Network Rail and GTR colleagues to improve and streamline their communications and maximise efficiency in their service recovery between their different route teams.

A rail control room with a large digital display showing train service status using the control alerts system

What The Client Said.

Large black quotation marks on a white background.

I became involved with the CAS Tool nearing launch, but found it easy and intuitive to use. Feedback from the Control has been positive.

As an alert system it's straightforward to use, enabling routes to update each other quickly when a disruptive incident occurs. This has helped with buy-in from those expected to update the system.

Briefing the system to users has been easy with all material supplied by Trackbase.

David Stokes
Route Control Manager
Network Rail

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