Transforming the Elizabeth Line by prioritising people skills

Enhancing operational excellence

Creating the right working culture and capabilities on London’s Elizabeth line before, during and after it went into operation has been recognised with a prestigious new award from the Institute of Asset Management.

Infrastructure, technology and processes were all key to taking London’s £19bn Elizabeth line from a construction project into operation, but people and their skills were essential to unlocking the full value of the asset. Integrating new teams, new technology and new ways of working on the UK rail network was not straightforward and the opening was under the full media spotlight.

As the new 42km network approaches its third anniversary, work to ensure operational success undertaken by Transport for London (TfL) with support from Mott MacDonald is still delivering continuous improvement. This work to unleash the full potential of technology and data systems on the major infrastructure asset has now been recognised by the Institute of Asset Management’s Organisational Transformation Award.

“The award honours the corporate journey and the excellence displayed by organisations to progress their asset management competence,” explains Mott MacDonald advisory consultant director Carmen Peraita Sanz who was the change and adoption lead for the Elizabeth line and worked closely with the Rail for London Infrastructure (RfLI) team which has responsibility for the Elizabeth line’s infrastructure for TfL. “Winning is a huge accolade for the team at TfL and Mott MacDonald – the work was very much a team effort.”

The backstory for the award success started in 2020 when RfLI looked at how to develop a high performing team with a strong culture and in-depth knowledge of the new systems and brought in a team from Mott MacDonald, to provide support and advice through this process.

Performance pressure

To set the scene on why the challenge on the Elizabeth line was different to other UK railway and underground systems, it is vital to look at the operational targets that were set for the network. The Elizabeth line has a very high service performance target which means 95% of journeys need to be on time. However, access for maintenance and repair is very limited with just two hours of engineering hours available each night and one train running every 120 seconds during peak hours. Add in the 200m long trains with capacity to carry 1,500 people each and up to 800,000 passengers per day and the challenge becomes even more complicated.

Unlike other operational railways in the UK, the Elizabeth line’s maintenance strategy is “predict and prevent”. According to Carmen, that is delivered through a profound understanding of the assets and by using technology to inspect the railway to determine when and where to do proactive maintenance that prevents failures. “The Elizabeth line is a digital railway,” says Carmen to underline how it is different from other railway networks in the UK. “The aim is to use remotely acquired data to assess the health of the system and only go onto site to the live railway undertake work, not for inspection.”

The RfLI team were experienced in working in a railway environment but needed to develop new capabilities to use new technology and data effectively. “The teams, technology and the working environment were all new,” Carmen explains. “Some of the technology being used had been used elsewhere before but never in combination or with the same high level of performance standards. Plus, there was also a new rule book.”

The new rule book was essential because it had to integrate rules from Network Rail and London Underground and adapt them to the specifics of the Elizabeth line, creating a completely new way of working.

The RfLI team had a variety of backgrounds with experience of working for Network Rail and TfL, as well as other sectors. “The RfLI  team needed to develop a new identity and culture, distinct from their previous organisations, to effectively manage the new infrastructure,” explains Carmen.

Transferring knowledge

Carmen’s previous experience positioned her well for the task of supporting TfL on the Elizabeth line work with a number of transferable skills and experience. Before joining Mott MacDonald, she worked in several different roles in the airport industry in Spain. As head of operations at Spanish airport operator Aena, she was involved in developing infrastructure investment and putting process changes into action with a focus on facilitating knowledge transfer. “Part of my role at Aena was to identify where we were missing capabilities and skills and help develop people to fill those gaps,” she adds.

As an example of the specific capability gaps identified early on in the work on the Elizabeth line, Carmen points to how the operational team had to adapt to the new technology being used to inspect the asset. “Maintenance teams had to shift from traditional inspection methods to using data to assess infrastructure status and intervene before failures occurred, which required new training and digital and data capabilities,” she explains.

This technology was vital due to the Elizabeth line's demanding operational constraints. “Identifying and developing any missing digital and data capabilities within the maintenance teams was crucial for adapting to the new data-driven processes and ensuring the reliability of the infrastructure,” adds Carmen.

This new operating environment also emphasised the importance of creating a common understanding of issues, Carmen explains. “Clarifying roles and responsibilities to align with business requirements helped improve efficiency and collaboration,” she adds.

Culture is critical

However, the cultural transformation of the team was important too. Carmen says: “Here we focused on creating a common challenge and improving communication, as well as aligning personal objectives with business goals to create a supportive and learning culture and ensure everyone worked as a team. We empowered people to make decisions and unlock their knowledge and potential.”

Developing clarity in roles and responsibilities in this way also prevents conflicts and inefficiencies. “At the outset, when we talked to different teams, each of them saw the challenges differently and had no clear understanding of the impact of their decision making on other teams,” says Carmen. “Each team was working well individually but we wanted to develop an environment where sharing of data and knowledge between teams was the norm to avoid duplication of effort. There was also the risk of gaps between teams with some capabilities and responsibilities not covered. This helped to ensure collaboration was a natural way of working for the teams.

“People were working hard but many were using interim solutions and workarounds that were a hangover from the Crossrail project, so there was a need for the teams to use their knowledge to embed permanent solutions to deliver continuous improvements and establish business as usual.”

The Mott MacDonald team introduced the principles of the asset management standard ISO 55001 to provide a systematic approach to leadership, planning and information management, as well as introducing business operations and performance management to the structure. This approach helped to define the challenge and brought everyone together to solve it.

Nonetheless, Carmen says that understanding the human impact of using new technology should not be underestimated either. “This often requires changes to ways of working which can impact the dynamic of a team,” she says.

To give a clear view on the issues and progress with implementation, Carmen’s team used the Mott MacDonald Conceptual Architecture to visualise the system development, data readiness and team capabilities. “This is a capabilities model that helps us to see how the capabilities need to be developed in an organisation to deliver the business goals,” Carmen explains. “It also shapes the organisational structure and establishes the systems and information architecture. Processes, organisation structure – the people – and systems and data are essential components of an organisation’s capabilities. This model connects these components with the business goals, facilitating change within the organisation and enhancing resilience throughout the process.”

Factors for success

There are some other key elements that Carmen points to that have helped set the Elizabeth line team up for success. “Having an enterprise approach allowed for an agreed common view of the problem statement and ensured input from all the key players,” she explains. “It was also important for us to embed a growth mindset within the teams to create an environment where continuous improvement was expected and celebrated. We empowered people to unlock their knowledge and make decisions.”

While the work delivered by Carmen, her colleagues and TfL has been award-winning, it is not yet at an end and Mott MacDonald is providing ongoing support. Carmen says that this work centres around clarifying roles and responsibilities, implementing new governance structures, embedding intelligent maintenance approach and helping the team achieve the ISO 55001 asset management accreditation.