ProRail wants to solve the acute shortage of train traffic controllers faster. If the more than 650 employees start working differently – namely more efficiently – the staff will finally be able to take a break and vacation again. This could lead to fewer train failures from next summer.
ProRail’s traffic control, which monitors the 3,200 kilometer long Dutch track, has been chronically understaffed for several years. Since 2020, this has regularly led to train cancellations, as was still the case on Sunday 6 February. Fewer trains ran on the Amsterdam-Eindhoven and The Hague-Amersfoort routes.
At the end of last year, the problems turned out to be even more persistent than expected: air traffic controllers often have to do without a break and it is difficult to take holidays or days off. The grids are only full with great effort. There was also a sickening working atmosphere at the important post in Utrecht, this newspaper revealed. In the short term, at least sixty air traffic controllers are needed.
Although ProRail has now taken a series of measures – the training for air traffic controllers has been shortened and the recruitment budgets have been increased considerably – this only offers solace later. Trains could be out of service until at least the summer of 2023, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) warns in a recent report. The consultant advises to organize the work at the twelve traffic posts more efficiently. This relieves the pressure on employees.
Merge workplaces
The management of ProRail, which had BCG screen the traffic control, is now adopting this recommendation. The rail manager requests all twelve traffic posts to make a plan. The central focus is on merging workplaces, each air traffic controller then monitors more kilometers of track.
The staff shortage is putting pressure on our organization and that is not a sustainable situation
For example, fewer air traffic controllers are needed and staff can get a normal break and vacation or follow training. It is also checked whether the work is properly distributed between the traffic posts.
The important traffic posts in Utrecht and Amsterdam will be the first to get started. The staff shortage is most acute here. ProRail explicitly invites air traffic controllers to think along and participate in the plans. These must be made jointly by management and employees.
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Not a tenable situation
The railway manager emphasizes that working more efficiently should not be at the expense of safety. Nor is it an austerity operation.
The staff was informed about the plans on Thursday afternoon. “The staff shortage is putting pressure on our organization,” the management writes to the staff. “This means that we do not have a sustainable situation for now and there is no basis for jointly building a sustainable future for ourselves and for our customers.”
The measures will only offer solace from next summer. We will certainly take into account train failures in the coming weeks
The rail manager warns that the measures can only offer solace from next summer. ProRail is taking extra train failures into account for the coming period. “Many failures as a result of corona in combination with holidays and the staff shortage mean that we are looking forward to the coming weeks with tension.” Absenteeism due to illness has now doubled, although recently there has been a decrease again. “We are doing everything we can to keep the trains running as much as possible, but we cannot rule out cancellations.”
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