The RailStaff Awards 2024

Phelim O'Neill

Said the following about Highgate Service Control Centre Training Team:

“I’ve nominated the Northern Line Service Control Training Team for two reasons – Business impact, and personal experience.

There’s a unique atmosphere at HSCC (Highgate Service Control Centre) which oversees all Northern Line operations for a number of reasons, but mainly due to an active programme of cross-pollinating skills.

Usually Service Controllers oversee the entire railway, Signallers implement their directions and Incident managers like myself manage and then investigate / report back on service affecting incidents - All usually existing as separate entities.

A team yes, but typically distinct and different in terms of roles and responsibilities.

The Northern Line is different because it has developed a ‘Step Down / Step Up’ process that dedicates time and resources to allow Controllers and Signallers to regularly rotate between the two roles, and this is combined with Incident Managers being allowed to have meaningful placements at HSCC whereby we qualify as Signallers and also gain an overview of the Controller role at the same time.

Similarly, all staff at HSCC are actively encouraged and supported to have similar placements as Incident Managers.

There is even a programme created whereby staff are seconded to the role of Service Manager which oversees everything and everyone detailed above. It is the crucial ‘link’ between Service Control and the wider business – Especially senior management.

What this delivers is a very tight knit team who all know what each of the other facets need in order to deliver the best possible service to our customers and colleagues.

Issues are pre-empted, no time is wasted, and no superfluous effort is expended.

One example of this would be when a Controller gets a call from a driver or station staff to advise them a train is held due to a person feeling unwell on board.

The Controller does not have to ask that other trains be held on platforms or diverted etc because the signalling team in the room will hear the ongoing call and be doing this already before the call is even finished.

The Northern Line is exemplary at this, and it results in trains not being stuck in tunnels behind an incident train as a result of becoming ‘bunched up’ - Simply because everyone present knows what the wider expectations and requirements of a Controller are thanks to this programme created by the Training Team and act accordingly.

Similarly, as everyone knows the Incident Manager role this too means that during an incident time is not wasted on needless comms.

We know immediately what HSCC need from us, and vice versa.

These ‘bespoke’ programmes created by the Training Team have also led to real relationships forming that span the grades.

There are no ‘egos’, only colleagues aware of each other’s unique role to play in an overall incident, and singularly focussed as one on the same task.

Thanks to the Training Teams leadership, knowledge is freely shared, lessons are readily learned, feedback is actively sought / acted upon, and collaboration is seen as the ‘glue’ that binds us all together.

It sounds like such a ‘simple’ set of ideas and values, but in reality it takes a lot of planning, effort and a real belief in its benefits to maintain the programmes as consistently as they have.

These work intensive initiatives sit over and above delivering core training to new recruits and generally keeping all existing colleagues fully up-skilled with their licences up to date etc.

Yet they are embraced and indeed championed by the entire Training Team simply because they delivers tangible results that benefit everyone.

The Training Team have worked tirelessly to make it a core tenet of the Northern Line Service Control ethos.

Not only do the Training Team work consistently hard to ensure everyone functions as part of an efficient, cohesive ‘whole’ unit, they also make clear than an equally powerful motivating factor for each of them is seeing us all develop professionally as individuals in order to help us advance our own careers within the business.

In synopsis, the training team at HSCC have struck the perfect ‘balance’ between a collective drive to deliver real results for London Underground, with being such passionate ambassadors that it inspires everyone else in the wider Service Control team to ‘buy into’ the same ethos.

This has made it a genuinely ‘shared’ vision everyone actively strives for, and it shows every day in how we all perform collectively.

On a personal note in terms of how excellently they ‘deliver’ training, I developed a disability that resulted in a period away from work.

Whilst away my role and location changed to that of Incident Manager. Not only was it an entirely new job and location and Line, I now had a disability to consider.

The team at HSCC didn’t bat an eyelid at this. I was made to feel part of the team from day one, and had regular friendly and supportive discussions that helped created a tailored training plan that fully addressed my recently changed needs.

I was assigned a ‘mentor’ and had regular meetings with the team to discuss my progress and generally ensure my wellbeing was being cared for.

Nothing was too much trouble, and their patience was immensely reassuring at what was a potentially stressful time.

In short, with their help I was quickly able to slot into a new and challenging role with the minimum of fuss simply because they genuinely cared enough to ensure they made it happen.

The multi-skilled team they’ve created and maintained allowed for a high degree of resilience and flexibility that in turn enabled me to have the assistance I needed to return to work fully, confidently, and delivering results for the business from day one.

Even when dealing with Service Control colleagues who are not designated ‘trainers’ per-se you can see (and feel!) that the empowering culture created by the Training Team has permeated throughout Service Control.

No matter what the incident or the constraints, everyone knows they can rely on one another for help and advice - Freely given and often gratefully received!

I know that others have had similar help at times of personal challenge, and that’s why it’s often referred to locally as the ‘Service Control Family’ – Simply because that’s exactly how it feels being on this truly enabling team, part of a family that faces challenges and continually grows together as one.

The Training Team have envisaged and then brought to life a ‘best-practice’ driven culture of supported learning and development over a period of years that makes the HSCC ‘umbrella’ a truly unique environment to work and grow positively in as an LUL employee.“