Station reforms to improve customer service
RailCorp is undertaking a review of CityRail station staffing to improve customer service and operating efficiency by staffing stations in line with customer and operational needs.
RailCorp’s aim is to provide the right number of staff at stations, with the right mix of skills, based on the travel patterns and needs of customers.
We know that 88 per cent of our customers travel during weekdays, and the majority of these in the morning and afternoon peaks. This means that we need to roster our staff to best meet the needs of our customers.
To achieve this we are reviewing and possibly changing the number and mix of staff positions at each station at different times of the day, but there will be no loss of employment.
Over the course of a day, the needs of our customers and our operation can change on an hourly basis. That’s why RailCorp needs to implement a more flexible station staffing model better equipped to deal with and respond to these customer and operational needs.
It therefore makes sense to align the way in which we staff our stations to these needs.
Reform with safety foremost
Safety and security are at the forefront of RailCorp’s planning and operations, both for our customers and for our staff.
The proposed changes have been conducted in accordance with RailCorp's Safety Change Management requirements.
RailCorp will continue to provide a range of safety and security measures for our customers at CityRail stations including:
- Transit officers – are deployed to assist with the management of safety and security on trains and at stations and are able to respond to incidents across the CityRail network.
- Joint Transit officer and NSW Police Operations – i.e. Operation Vision.
- High intensity lighting
- CCTV coverage - CCTV coverage is linked to centralised control centres in each area, as well as to the main Security Control Centre located in the Rail Management Centre.
- Help Points - help points are linked to the CCTV system and the Rail Management Centre. If passengers feel unsafe at a station they can simply press the Emergency Help Point button and be connected with a trained security specialist who can coordinate assistance.
- Long line public address system - this provides customers information about train movements and disruptions to services.
- Security Hotline - customers are able to call the CityRail Security Hotline on 1800 657 926 if they would like assistance.
A fair and consultative process
The reform to station operations, along with other reforms, is part of the 2008 RailCorp Union Collective Agreement, which included wage increases of 4 per cent in April 2008 and 4 per cent again in April 2009 in return for appropriate efficiency gains. The Agreement also sets out the process under which the station staff review is being conducted.
With the pay increases now implemented, we need to complete the task of reform to achieve the required efficiency gains while improving customer service.
There will be no loss of employment as a result of the station staff reviews, though some positions will change. Any staff member whose role is affected by the outcome of the review will be able to retrain and/or transition to other roles as part of the station staff review translation process and existing RailCorp redeployment policy. All affected staff will receive individual interviews to discuss their particular situation and identify their next steps.
There will be no forced conversion of staff from full-time to part time employment as a result of the station staff reviews. Some staff will have rosters modified impacting on weekend penalty payments. However this is necessary to ensure RailCorp can roster staff when they are most needed by customers, and to reduce unnecessary costs.
Based on sound needs analysis
An in-depth and detailed analysis of all 245 staffed stations on the CityRail network has been carried out, with RailCorp and the unions conducting extensive consultation throughout this process.
The output of the analysis was a series of documents, one for each station, outlining proposals for new staffing arrangements. Each document was based on sound business information which looked at safety, passenger volumes, workloads and operational areas. Areas of focus included customer service delivery, passenger flow, ticketing data, gate management, station management, safeworking, cleaning and other business requirements.
These documents have been sent to Station Managers to review with their staff and to provide feedback prior to a series of on-site meetings between staff and Staff Review Committees. The Committees include members of RailCorp management, Human Resources, the unions and workplace representatives.
The process of meetings and reviews will take approximately three months to complete, running from the end of April to the beginning of August. It is only after the process is finished for each location that final staffing numbers will be determined.
Creating dedicated cleaning teams
In addition to changes in station staffing levels, the review will facilitate the creation of a dedicated stations’ cleaning group responsible for cleaning duties at 43 of our busiest stations as well as train cleaning currently undertaken by station staff at five locations.
This will relieve station staff from the majority of cleaning requirements and allow them to focus on the provision of customer services.