Lockdown measures are easing. We are beginning to return to the office; to our daily lives and routines. Which also means passenger numbers will begin to increase once more across our rail networks.
Our stations must remain highly vigilant as although we are seeing hugely positive strides towards normalcy, backed by impressive national uptake of the NHS vaccine drive and regular, widespread rapid testing, we still cannot allow the progress which has been made to slip.
That means ensuring safety measures are observed, particularly in high traffic areas such as train stations and platforms. Social distancing measures must be respected, safety protocols such as face masks when travelling should be adhered to and cleaning and disinfecting processes maintained by operators.
A train station has always been an environment with many different risk factors, and Covid-19 hasn’t changed that. It has simply altered what those priority risks are.
And passenger behaviour will have altered too. Even as we lift restrictions, there may be many passengers and members of the public who feel anxious about travelling the same way as they used to, may have more questions or assistance needs or who simply want to confidence of seeing visible efforts to limit risk continued by operators.
Much of the data suggests a clear change in passenger and public behaviour within our stations; a change which is likely to persist and continue to evolve as circumstances change, restrictions are lifted and different aspects of society and traditional routine kickstart once again.
They’re changes we must be ready for as a rail sector.
But you don’t have to just take our word for it. Rather, experts at the RSSB have worked to crunch the numbers and will be joining us at our #RTM365 virtual event on April 14, 2021 (speaking at 11:25am) to explain their findings in much greater depth.
Join Occupational Therapist Paul Leach and Tom Chenneour-Adams, Risk and Safety Intelligence Analyst at RSSB, alongside the RTM team and a host of other brilliant speakers throughout the day, by registering now on our digital events platform.
