Railway operations manager

This apprenticeship is in development and is subject to change

Why is this apprenticeship not ready for delivery?

An apprenticeship is only available for delivery when both the standard and assessment plan is approved and a funding band (core government contribution) has been assigned to the standard.

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Key information

  1. Status: Standard in development
  2. Ticked Proposal approved
    Ticked Occupational standard approved
    Ticked End-point assessment plan approved
    Unticked Funding approved
  3. Reference: ST1441
  4. Level: 6
  5. Typical duration to gateway: 36 months
  6. Typical EPA period: 5 months
  7. Route: Transport and logistics
  8. Integration: None
  9. Date updated: 09/06/2025
  10. Example progression routes:
  11. Review: this apprenticeship will be reviewed in accordance with our change request policy.

Details of the occupational standard

Occupation summary

This occupation is found in the rail industry in the United Kingdom; the infrastructure (track, signalling, bridges, tunnels, stations, and depots) and rail services (trains). Railway operations managers are employed in train operating companies (TOCs), freight operating companies (FOCs) and rail infrastructure operators, including Network Rail, managing key operational areas, including, control, safety, performance, operating capacities, signalling, depots and stations. Because of the diverse operational requirements associated with this occupation, a railway operations manager may be required to work in person at various locations and sites, as well as remote working, with shift work sometimes required, particularly where infrastructure and rail services operate during unsociable hours.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to contribute to safe, efficient, and effective operation of the rail infrastructure and rail services by leading and managing operational teams. Railway operations managers typically liaise with internal and external stakeholders, lead teams of technical experts, lead planning and risk management activities and ensure operational compliance with industry legislation and regulations. Railway operations managers will be required to make decisions that will directly influence the management of the infrastructure and rail services, with a focus on continuous improvement being at the core of this approach.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders. Primarily they will be required to work with members of their immediate team to ensure safe operation of the infrastructure and rail services, for example, signallers, train drivers, station operations staff. Typical stakeholders outside of their immediate team could include other operations managers, customers and trade union officials. Although managing an operational team is a key aspect of this occupation there may also be times when it is necessary to work independently. Railway operations managers must be able to demonstrate business and commercial acumen, collaborating with stakeholders & industry bodies as well as front line staff to achieve organisational objectives. Railway operations managers will also need to effectively engage with their operational teams to guide the principles of broader business implications including recruitment, policies, and training for the wider rail workforce.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for maintaining safe and compliant railway operations while also ensuring performance targets are achieved. Managing operational risks will be a key factor in achieving this which may require a wide range of performance data and information to be analysed. In addition, the outcomes of these analysis activities will be used when reviewing and validating solutions against existing services, business requirements and contracts, and customer standards. Railway operations managers may sometimes encounter degraded travel conditions, unexpected incidents or emergency situations that can be extremely challenging and require the railway operations manager to analyse the situation and identify and communicate appropriate solutions.

Typical job titles include:

Customer experience controller Driver manager Duty customer experience manager Duty service delivery manager Guard manager Local operations manager Rostering manager Route control manager Seasons control manager Senior train service manager Signalling manager Station control room manager Station manager

Occupation duties

Duty KSBs

Duty 1 Ensure safety of rail operations and compliance with relevant legislation and regulations.

K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K9 K14 K15 K16 K34 K35

S1 S2 S3 S4 S7 S8 S9 S10 S12 S26 S28

B1 B2 B3 B6

Duty 2 Ensure operational compliance with relevant rail policies, plans, procedures, and systems.

K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K14 K15 K33 K34 K35

S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S26 S28

B1 B2 B3 B6

Duty 3 Manage rail incidents and other significant events.

K2 K3 K4 K9 K10 K11 K12 K13 K15

S1 S3 S4 S7 S8 S9 S10

B1 B2 B6

Duty 4 Manage factors that impact the environment and sustainability.

K16

S1 S3 S4 S8 S9 S12

B1 B2 B3 B6

Duty 5 Manage rail security.

K4 K9 K10 K11 K12 K13 K14 K15

S4 S7 S8 S9 S11

B1 B2 B6

Duty 6 Manage workforce competency and professional development requirements, ensuring compliance with regulations.

K7 K8 K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23

S2 S5 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17

B1 B2 B3 B4 B6

Duty 7 Recruit, train, appraise, mentor and be responsible for the day-to-day management of direct workforce

K17 K18 K19 K20 K21 K22 K23

S2 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17

B3 B4 B5 B6

Duty 8 Contribute to strategic rail management.

K24 K25

S18

Duty 9 Develop and maintain internal controls that monitor and manage financial risk to safeguard the organisations assets, personnel and mitigate liabilities.

K7 K9 K25 K26 K27 K28 K36

S4 S6 S19 S20 S21 S22 S24 S29

Duty 10 Lead the creation and collation of contingency plans to ensure operational resilience.

K12 K13 K15 K27 K28 K29 K30 K34 K35

S10 S20 S21 S22 S26 S27

Duty 11 Record, report and manage train service performance to minimise disruption.

K29 K30 K31 K34 K35

S21 S23 S24 S26 S27

B6

Duty 12 Lead on or contribute to problem solving and continuous improvement activities.

K29 K30 K31 K32 K33

S9 S11 S19 S20 S23 S24 S25 S26 S27

Duty 13 Responsibility: Provide products and services which have been properly maintained.

K35 K36

S28 S29

Duty 14 Engage with Trade Unions and employee representatives to achieve organisational objectives.

K37

S30

B6

Duty 15 Liaise with external stakeholders

K5 K12 K13 K14 K38 K39 K40

S3 S11 S30 S31 S32 S33

B6

KSBs

Knowledge

K1: Statutory and rail specific legislation and regulations: The Railways and Transport Safety Act, Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations, Railway and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations (ROGS) and Health and Safety at work act (HASAWA) Back to Duty

K2: National and local operating procedures. Back to Duty

K3: The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) Rule Book instructions. Back to Duty

K4: The rail accident investigation branch (RAIB): their purpose, role and objectives within railway operations. Back to Duty

K5: Office of rail and road (ORR): their role within railway operations. Back to Duty

K6: Appendices definitions and descriptions, such as general and sectional. Back to Duty

K7: The principles of risk management including identification, assessment, mitigation and monitoring. Back to Duty

K8: Organisational rail policies, plans, procedures and systems including audits. Back to Duty

K9: Principles of safety investigations, such as, the different levels of investigations, designated competent person (DCP), recommendations and local actions. Initiate and facilitate safety investigations. Back to Duty

K10: Different types of rail incidents and significant events. Back to Duty

K11: The principles of reviewing rail incidents and significant events, including lessons learned reviews. Back to Duty

K12: Role and responsibilities during rail incidents and significant events, including emergency plans, escalation procedures and engagement with cross sector contacts, such as emergency services. Back to Duty

K13: Roles and responsibilities of Tactical Incident Commander (TIC), Rail Incident Commander (RIC) and Train Operation Liaison Officer (TOLO) Station Incident Officer (SIO). Back to Duty

K14: National security level and how it is applied locally. Back to Duty

K15: Local security issues: crime, trespass and vandalism. Back to Duty

K16: Environmental and sustainability requirements and guidance: wildlife regulations, animal encroachment, animal welfare and disposal, movement of goods, energy utilisation, vegetation management and waste streams. Back to Duty

K17: Organisational Competency Management Systems (CMS). Back to Duty

K18: Principles of checking, assessing and verification of competencies relating to employees and contractors. Differences between responsibility and accountability. Back to Duty

K19: Workplace training and development techniques: coaching and mentoring. Back to Duty

K20: Workplace management techniques: conducting appraisals and providing feedback. Back to Duty

K21: The principles of workforce planning, such as, analysing, forecasting, planning workforce supply and demand, gap analysis and recruitment. Back to Duty

K22: Continuous professional development (CPD) requirements and learning needs of self and their team. Back to Duty

K23: The principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. Back to Duty

K24: The principles of strategic management, such as Porters 5 Forces Analysis, Stakeholder Mapping, PESTEL Analysis, SWOT Analysis. Back to Duty

K25: Organisational strategic goals and objectives and functional constraints. Back to Duty

K26: The principles of financial management, including risk and liability within railway operations. Back to Duty

K27: Revenue generation streams and costs within railway operations. Back to Duty

K28: Operational requirements and the concept of operational resilience. Back to Duty

K29: The principles of contingency planning and approaches to their development and revision. Back to Duty

K30: Degraded conditions and working methods in railway operations, such as failure of signals, severe weather. Back to Duty

K31: Key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics relating to train service performance. Back to Duty

K32: Continuous improvement principles and techniques such as plan-do-check-act (PDCA), Lean, 6 Sigma, process mapping. Back to Duty

K33: Problem solving principles and techniques such as Root Cause Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, Brainstorming. Back to Duty

K34: Service disruption in railway operations. Back to Duty

K35: Preventative and reactive maintenance requirements of the railway operations environment, such as rolling stock, tracks, infrastructure, stations. Back to Duty

K36: Procurement of products and services: organisational approach and subsequent maintenance. Back to Duty

K37: Trade unions and employee representatives: structure and the role they play within their organisation and wider railway operations environment. Back to Duty

K38: Written communication techniques. digital and paper. Plain English principles. Industry terminology. Back to Duty

K39: Verbal communication techniques. Giving and receiving information. Matching style to audience. Industry terminology. Back to Duty

K40: Customer portfolio and service level agreements (SLAs) including existing and new customers. Back to Duty

Skills

S1: Comply with statutory and rail specific regulations and legislation. Back to Duty

S2: Manage and monitor workforce compliance with statutory and rail specific regulations and legislation, including health and safety. Back to Duty

S3: Comply with national and local operating procedures. Back to Duty

S4: Manage risks through risk identification, assessment, mitigation and monitoring. Back to Duty

S5: Implement organisational rail policies, plans procedures and systems monitoring compliance. Back to Duty

S6: Conduct audits and identify follow up actions. Back to Duty

S7: Manage safety investigations. Back to Duty

S8: Manage information received regarding incidents and significant events. Back to Duty

S9: Review incidents and significant events and identify lessons learnt Back to Duty

S10: Create, review and manage emergency plans to respond to rail incidents and significant events. Back to Duty

S11: Identify, lead, respond and implement solutions to rail security issues. Back to Duty

S12: Apply environmental and sustainability requirements and guidance, ensuring team compliance. Back to Duty

S13: Manage performance of employees and contractors including managing competency and appraisals Back to Duty

S14: Coach and mentor colleagues. Back to Duty

S15: Apply principles of workforce planning for example forecasting and recruitment. Back to Duty

S16: Manage and facilitate learning and CPD for self and their team. Back to Duty

S17: Apply and promote policies and practices to support equity, diversity and inclusion. Back to Duty

S18: Apply the principles of strategic management which contributes and supports the organisations own strategic objectives Back to Duty

S19: Apply financial management principles. Back to Duty

S20: Prioritise and deploy resources Back to Duty

S21: Create and revise contingency plans to ensure the achievement of operational requirements. Back to Duty

S22: Apply degraded conditions working methods. Back to Duty

S23: Collect and analyse data and information and identify rail service performance issues. Back to Duty

S24: Manage rail service performance. Back to Duty

S25: Apply continuous improvement principles and techniques. Back to Duty

S26: Identify and implement solutions for rail service issues. Back to Duty

S27: Manage the impact of rail service disruptions and mitigate the impact Back to Duty

S28: Manage preventative and reactive maintenance schedules of railway infrastructure, buildings and equipment. Back to Duty

S29: Manage procurement activities, for example initial purchases and subsequent maintenance. Back to Duty

S30: Communicate and manage relationships with Trade Union and employer representatives to achieve collective objectives. Back to Duty

S31: Communicate in writing, digital and paper including technical reports Back to Duty

S32: Communicate with others verbally for example, colleagues and stakeholders. Back to Duty

S33: Manage customer portfolio and service level agreements (SLAs). Back to Duty

Behaviours

B1: Prioritises health & safety for themselves and others. Back to Duty

B2: Respond and adapt to work demands and situations. Back to Duty

B3: Act as a role model and advocate for environmental and sustainable practices. Back to Duty

B4: Committed to maintaining and enhancing competence of self and others through CPD. Back to Duty

B5: Encourage a diverse and inclusive culture. Back to Duty

B6: Acts in a professional manner. Back to Duty

Qualifications

English and Maths

English and maths qualifications must be completed in line with the apprenticeship funding rules.

Professional recognition

This standard aligns with the following professional recognition:

  • Chartered Institution of Railway Operators for Member
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Employers involved in creating the standard: CIRO, Freightliner, GB Railfreight, Great Western Railway (GWR), GT Railway, Network Rail, South Western Railway

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