Abstract
Although there has long been a call for a holistic systems perspective to better understand real work in the complex domain of railway traffic, prior research has not strongly emphasised the socio-technical perspective. In operational railway traffic, the successful planning and execution of the traffic are the product of the socio-technical system comprised by both train drivers and traffic controllers. This paper presents a study inspired by cognitive ethnography with the aim to characterise the coordinating activities that are conducted by train traffic controllers and train drivers in the work practices of the socio-technical system of Swedish railway. The theoretical framework of distributed cognition (DCog) is used as a conceptual and analytical tool to make sense of the complex railway domain and the best practices as they are developed and performed “in the wild”. The analysis reveals a pattern of collaboration and coordination of actions among the workers and we introduce the concept of enacted actionable practices as a key concern for understanding how a successfully executed railway traffic emerges as a property of the socio-technical system. The implications for future railway research are briefly discussed.
Highlights
Research relating to aspects of human factors in the railway domain is a relatively understudied area of inquiry, especially if compared to aviation and road traffic
The aim of this study is to investigate and analyse the coordination activities in play in operational railway traffic, conducted by train traffic controllers and train drivers working within the socio-technical system of Swedish railway from a distributed cognition (DCog) perspective
The study is performed in the Swedish railway setting with the overarching goal to understand the coordination activities conducted by train traffic controllers and train drivers working within the socio-technical system of Swedish railway from a DCog perspective
Summary
Research relating to aspects of human factors in the railway domain is a relatively understudied area of inquiry, especially if compared to aviation and road traffic. More computerised activities are already automated, and the time has arrived when the more demanding cognitive tasks have to be dealt with in automation (Sandblad et al 2003) These lines of reasoning apply to the railway domain, due to the increasing development of information and communications’ technology that should support the work practices to enhance safety and efficiency. This change was highly influenced by the Chief Engineer of Network Rail who in an opening talk at the First European Conference on Rail Human Factors highlighted a change in public and government perceptions along with technical developments, and the influences this brought to an industry, where nothing much had changed for 150 years (McNaughton 2003, in Wilson and Norris 2006) He described the railway industry as a complex engineering system with the human at the centre and elucidated that HF&E research could greatly contribute to this domain
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
