CUSTOMER CASE STUDY
Freight Operator Varamis adopt electronic competence management
The UK’s first high speed, electric freight train operator, Varamis, has adopted electronic competence management to manage their drivers’ competence.
Freight operator Varamis, the UK’s first high speed, electric train operator to transport large amounts of goods quickly and efficiently between logistics centres and heavily populated cities, has adopted electronic competence management to manage their drivers’ competence.
As a business, it was paramount to Varamis that the adoption of their competence management solution should align with their goals of being completely carbon neutral.
They were advised in their discussions with the ORR to operate a paper-based process alongside their electronic competence management process initially, but decided not to take this approach as it didn’t align with their ambitions and company values.
Sally Brinkley and Leanne Hammond with Phil Read from Varamis Rail
Varamis currently have four drivers and one train operating between Birmingham and Glasgow, however, it was important for the business to have all their core processes in place to enable the business to grow. As the trains operate on the same lines as existing passenger trains, it was essential for the drivers and managers to adopt a developmental competence management approach and adhere to ORR standards. Health, safety and welfare are key focus areas for Varamis. They are a high moral based business who have developed robust processes to ensure they remain in line with the regulators and all their staff ‘go home safe at night’.
The Varamis management team decided from the outset they wanted to have a modern, streamlined, paperless approach which would be automated and with minimal reliance on humans. This would provide the business with efficiencies, better process management and data analytics so they can see where the issues may lie for their drivers to reduce incidents.
We have ambitious plans to grow the business and add more routes. Safety is a massive driver for our business as well as meeting our carbon neutral goals. It is great to have ACMS in the business at this early stage as it means the system will evolve with us as the business grows.
Varamis are working on launching the second phase of their rollout by extending South to London, and further expanding this to Portsmouth.
AssessTech supported the roll out of the system by uploading the competence standards onto the Varamis platform and provided indepth training for the core team to ensure they could implement the system seamlessly within the business.
