Erik Hamoen

Said the following about Dean Bolton:

“This nomination is for the late Dean Bolton, whose commitment and passion to transforming his team’s working life and improving the operational railway will be felt for many years to come.

Less than a week after the go-live of a transformational project spanning over 3 years, Dean sadly passed away unexpectedly in February 2023. This was and continues to be heart-breaking for all those involved, and there is no doubt that the success of getting this major digital transformation over the line was in a large part down to Dean. Dean was committed to always doing the best job possible for his team and whilst we all see the fruition of his efforts, sadly he never got to see how much of a difference he has made to the operational railway within TfW. His legacy within Project Mercury will never be forgotten.

WHAT

• Dean led his team through a period of transformational change, from using decades old software, to brand new ways of working with the implementation of TRACS Enterprise/ATTUne Planning systems.

• Formed part of an industry first end-to-end software replacement to improve the operational working of the railway.

• Committed to always doing the best job possible and to completing a transformational project spanning over 3 years from conception to fruition.

• Overcame the significant challenge of implementing a new Train Planning software, whilst in the midst of dealing with the pressure of COVID-19 timetables, varying and impactful strike plans and incredibly ambitious transformational plans across TfW to our service patterns and rolling stock.

IMPACT

• There was a successful implementation of a complex system intertwined between multiple functions across TfW including Train planning, Control, Resources and Fleet.

• Dean was fully immersed in effective collaboration with other Project Mercury Subject Matter Experts from the very start of the project and throughout. His approach was considered, detailed and constructive at all times. He was able to demonstrate the advancements made within the Train Planning scope of the project and highlight dependencies and knock-on steps and benefits to Control from the work of the LTP and STP train planning team. This is crucial for an effective and deliverable train plan on-the-day of the operation for Control, Resources, Stations, Fleet, Drivers and Conductors. All to ultimately benefit our customers and our colleagues.

• The introduction delivered the following benefits for the team:

o Attune for conflict detection during the train planning process - 1 or 2 days in a 2-week period saved.

o Attune for conflict detection for the COVID-19 uplift plan - 50-60% time saving in initial validation of the plan before bid to Network Rail - more in terms of accuracy of the plan using the TPR checking and conflict detection functionalities.

o T-13 bid back to NR- Trains altered/dealt with by STP are automatically passed to NR in ATTUne - 75%+ faster to process via the electronic process. This has a huge benefit on it’s own to the wider STP team to save time, make validating more accurate and also automatically creates a document to use as the response to Network Rail.

o Instant unit diagrams automatically created to keep track of resources used or spare. Can be re-created several times throughout creating an STP engineering plan to monitor vehicle usage - Less bid’s required due to simultaneous timetable and unit diagram creation - up to 50% reduction.

o Speed of loading a fully validated timetable containing several thousand trains/buses with conflicts already calculated - Approx 68% speed increase in loading a fully validated timetable.

o Speed of producing a unit balancing sheet - ATTUne produces fully accurate balancing sheets in under 3 seconds, compared to Voyager Plans 3-minute process. This would typically be undertaken several times a day, potentially saving each user up to an hour a week.

o Breaking a train into a bus from a certain point. Previously the train would have to be terminated, a ‘Create new train’ would then need to be populated and converted to a bus. ATTUne facilitates all off the above with a single click and eliminates scope for human error - Replacing a multi-step process with a single click saves approximately two minutes per train/bus created. Naturally this multiplies with larger engineering blocks, saving on average an hour per user per week.

o Unit Order/Position Indicators within multiple unit workings are now automated for the most part, whereas in the past we have been required to manually input positions in the consist for each unit, on each respective diagram, for each leg - Any train routinely made up of multiple units will now automatically calculate which position in the consist each unit occupies based on each units next/prev workings. Eliminating manual input from this process saves one minute per each unit in the consist.

HOW

• Dean showed unwavering leadership throughout this project. He guided his team through this major change, despite the challenges of encouraging people to embrace a digital railway of the future, when many of his team had never experienced a change of systems.

• Dean was a pleasure to work with on the project and persevered through the tough periods (especially the lead up to go-live!) with sheer determination and a trademark hint of sarcasm to make us all smile and keep driving towards his Train Planning nirvana!“