Quality Circle Operations (QCO): Cross-border workshop in Forbach on the 28.-29.08.2019
More than 30 participants from SNCF Logistic, EUROCARGORAIL, CFL Cargo, DB Cargo, Rhenus Rail, SNCF Réseau, DB Netz and RFC Atlantic have dedicated 1,5 days of their valuable time to jointly discuss painful cross-border issues for rail freight between Germany in France.
During the sight visit and the interactive workshop the participants showed a very positive spirit to improve collaboration for better cross-border performance of rail.
In the Working a list of cross-border issues was identified by the participants. Then four topics were prioritized as focus topics and next more deeply analyzed in sub-groups.
Improve Exceptional Transport process for ad-hoc trains The exceptional transport process for regular trains was improved in the second half of 2019 and is now being monitored constantly by the Infrastructure Manager (IM) and Railway Undertaking (RU). On top a group of volunteers (IM + RU) will also monitor quality/quantity of exceptional transport for ad-hoc trains in order to specify if there is problem justifying specific measures.
Inconsistent Train Numbering for ad-hoc trains cause operational problems in Forbach Currently train numbering for cross-border trains is inconsistent as there are no common criteria for the allocation by the IM. This shall be changed for timetable 2020 – e.g. one IM shall be made responsible for the management of the train numbers. à Next step: DB Netz and SNCF Réseau expert meeting on 21st of November to clarify the details of the measure.
Missing real-time train information sent from RU to IM SNCF Réseau is unable to manage efficiently track capacity in Forbach without real-time train information about train composition, delays, availability of loco / loco driver and dangerous goods. For timetable 2020 a solution shall be elaborated that this information is being provided to SNCF Réseau until 30 min before arrival in Forbach. à Next step: IM/RU expert telephone conference on the 15th of October to clarify the details of the measure.
Pilot of an automated translation tool “Assistify” Pilot for the automatic chat translation IT tool "Assistify" with DB Netz and SNCF Réseau with the aim of intensifying cross-border communication between the operational managers in the process of train disposition (Betriebszentrale <-> COGC) and the process of exceptional transport handling (Team Spezialverkehr <-> COGC).
Next Step: The pilot, financed by RFC Atlantic, shall start in November 2019 and last for 6-12 months.
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