What is a TOLO?
A Train Operating Liaison Officer (TOLO), is the person who attends an incident on the railway to represent the interests and discharge the responsibilities of the railway company in respect of managing that incident. Standards state that:
Railway undertakings shall appoint a Train Operators’ Liaison Officer (TOLO) when circumstances require or the infrastructure manager requests it, to represent the interests of all the involved railway undertakings.
The infrastructure manager shall liaise with railway undertakings involved in, or affected by, the incident, exchanging details of the incident, its location, site access, rendezvous points, and identities of the DLP/RIO and Train Operators’ Liaison Officer (TOLO).
What is a SIO?
A Station Incident Officer (SIO) is person responsible for station operations appointed by the Station Facility Owner to undertake the role of SIO following a major incident, to work with the RIO to represent the interests of the Station Facility Owner in its responsibilities for station operations.
Who is the course for?
Any manager who holds the pre-requisites and key skills can attend this course and should be able to learn to confidently undertake the roles of the TOLO and SIO.
Pre-requisites
- Driver competence, Guard competence or managerial competence in Operations
- Personal Track Safety (PTS)
- Experienced Station Manager
Key Skills
- Strong leadership
- The ability to use initiative
- Good understanding of issues relating to staff and customer welfare
What is covered in the course?
The Course covers the following:
- Understanding how an incident occurs
- Understanding your company’s paperwork and standards
- Identification of key personnel during an incident
- Assisting staff and members of the public
- Gathering and preserving evidence
- Dealing with the media
Course Delivery
The combined TOLO/SIO course is delivered over one or two days of training, based in a classroom. It consists of a mixture of formal learning and practical exercises including walking through scenarios based on historical incidents.
There is also the option to have an online version of the course to be used as a refresher.