MISSION CONTROL Inside Britain’s railway nerve centre
THE first part of this feature (RM Jan) looking at Network Rail National Operations Centre (NOC) concentrated on the passenger side of the rail business. However, this excludes charter services, and long-distance passenger operators such as CrossCountry and the Caledonian Sleepers.
If readers think part one of the feature demonstrated the huge range of skills and knowledge used by the NOC staff, the Freight and National Passenger Operations (FNPO) team also have to carry out very quick, accurate decision-making while considering different factors than those of the passenger team.
The FNPO team has a different upward reporting line to the passenger team, instead reporting into the Network Services directorate.
Shift system
On weekdays the FNPO team work a 24/7 three-shift system and at weekends a 24/7 two-shift pattern.
Both teams are co-located closely together in the Milton Keynes HQ; coincidentally, the change in reporting went live on the day of the author’s visit.
Timetables for the long-distance passenger TOCs are fixed within franchise agreements, and thus rarely alter, but all freight services are open access and market led so can and do frequently change. It is also a truism that the longer the distance a train operates, the greater the chance of it being delayed.
The author joined John Phillips, the early turn freight service delivery manager (FSDM) on the FNPO monitoring desk on July 15 last year. While most of the NOC team have enjoyed decades on the
