Five steps to readiness
The new, heavily mandated process requires train operators to implement a technology solution to gather data on your SQR performance and manage your improvement journey.
1. Identify where you’re starting from
You first need to determine your baseline so you can measure future service improvements. This means you need to start asking questions: Where are you currently on meeting SQRs? How realistic is it going to be to achieve targets? Do you have the right data and tools in place to measure this? Even if it’s an internal process and you don’t yet have a digital solution in place, start gathering the right data.
2. Build a true picture of your assets
Check the accuracy of your asset register because train operators are going to have to account for everything, from train carriages and lighting to signage and the vending machines outside the station. Without an up-to-date asset register compliance will be more challenging. Even an out-of-date poster could result in an immediate fail.
3. External inspections to track progress
It’s now compulsory to commission external auditors to conduct mystery shopper-style inspections on pre-agreed criteria. These should measure what’s important under the new system: cleanliness, assets being in good repair, and ease and comfort of travel. If you start this process now, you’ll hit the ground running when the SQR is officially implemented.
4. Build a true picture of your assets
With around 1,200 unstaffed stations in the UK, station cleanliness and maintenance issues often aren’t seen or reported because, in many cases, there’s literally no one to see or report them. Even when a member of staff notices a problem, they have neither the time nor the remit to take action. If reporting a defect involves a series of manual processes – sending emails, filling out logbooks and so on – the hassle factor is simply too high. But with a workflow automation system installed on handheld devices, it takes seconds to raise an alert and instantly let the right team know what needs fixing.
5. Tackle cleaning inefficiencies
Let’s take station toilets as a current example of cleaning inefficiency as their condition is one of the main ways passengers assess the overall cleanliness of the train. The state of your toilets has a huge impact on their perception of the journey. Toilets are typically checked and cleaned on a pre-set schedule, which could be hourly for staffed stations or three times a week for unstaffed. But if no passengers have visited your station’s washroom since it was last cleaned, does it make sense to send in cleaners? Conversely, if hundreds descended on your loos minutes after their last clean, chances are they’ll need quite a bit of attention that definitely can’t wait until the next scheduled clean.
Is it time for you to get on board?