A week on Sunday (14 December), London North Eastern Railway (LNER) will introduce a new timetable that it describes as “the biggest uplift in rail services in more than a decade on the East Coast Main Line”.

The publicly-owned operator’s new timetable will see it introduce nearly ten thousand new services each year. It will also bring more than sixty thousand extra seats per week on the route.

LNER has published details of the work its staff are undertaking in preparation for the timetable change. Its control room workers and experts have been running numerous simulations of the timetable using advanced technology. This work helps the operator to refine its plans.

Control room staff at the Rail Operating Centre (ROC) in York have been preparing for the timetable change for several years. The ROC is a modern facility which is taking control of sections of the East Coast Main Line as the line’s digitalisation programme progresses. It is the largest centre of its kind in the country.

LNER staff work alongside staff from other train operating companies, including Northern and TransPennine Express, and with Network Rail staff. Clive Casling, a member of the LNER service delivery team, describes the ROC as “like Air Traffic Control for the rail industry”. He has more than forty years of experience and has been working with specialist timetable planners. Clive explains that on one floor of the ROC, operational staff react to situations that arise that could have an impact on trains.

LNER Operational Programmes Team member Adam Reid has been working on the new timetable preparations for several months. He described the change as building the train service delivery of the future.

For the first time, LNER is also to have workers based at Scotland’s Rail Operating Centre in Glasgow, where they will work alongside Network Rail, ScotRail and other train operators.

Workers at LNER’s train maintenance depots have also been preparing for the timetable change.

LNER’s Nicola Mooney is responsible for preparing the new Train Service Manager team for their new roles, which has included involvement in recruitment and assessments. Ten Train Service Managers will be based in York, and a further eight in Glasgow. The Train Service Manager role is responsible for monitoring the delivery of services across LNER’s network.

“We are working together more than ever before, with other train operators and Network Rail – in both York and now in Glasgow. With our new Train Service Managers, we are now in a better position to manage service delivery more efficiently across the entire route.”

Ben Griffin, Train Service Manager, York