PARTY RESPONSIBLE
How careful planning helps meet the challenges of managing services safely during major events
Getting revellers safely to and from Europe’s biggest street party requires months of planning. More than one million people a day are expected to converge on the Notting Hill Carnival, an annual celebration of Caribbean culture.
Many visitors to this year’s Carnival, from 26-28 August, will travel via Kensal Rise Station, with thousands also expected at Shepherd’s Bush and Willesden Junction stations. As always, the focus is on customer and colleague safety, so planning starts at least 18 weeks in advance, says head of stations (interim) Dujon Toussaint.
Dujon Toussaint
Dujon Toussaint
“We work with the Carnival organisers and the local council to understand what we need to do and how our team can help everything run safely and smoothly.
“We have a series of site visits to plan changes to service frequency, where possible, and to determine how customers will exit and enter the station.
“Lessons learned from previous events are crucial too. For example, last year the council was installing benches and planters outside the station, which slowed customers down as they were leaving. That won’t happen this year!”
Party atmosphere
At busy times like this, station colleagues have a vital role in helping customers travel safely.
“We’re expecting a mixed, multinational crowd, coming for a good time, and it’s important that we play our part in enabling them to do that safely,” says Dujon.
This year’s all-important atmosphere will start in the station, as colleagues hand out freebies such as vuvuzelas, wristbands and sweets for young visitors.
“We want to help get people into the party spirit,” says Dujon. “Our gifts are practical too. There are ponchos in case of rain, folding water bottles so people can stay hydrated and drawstring bags, so they can carry their stuff more easily.
“Good preparation means our customers can relax, knowing they’re safe, and our colleagues know they have the back-up of a well-run and resourced team.
“If there’s any anti-social behaviour or a customer accident, we work closely with the emergency services and the British Transport Police to help as much as we can. But we expect most of our customers will just want to enjoy the Carnival atmosphere safely and sensibly.”
Buzzing with Beyoncé
When Beyoncé announced five gigs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this year, our teams had just 12 weeks to plan our response to the needs of tens of thousands of extra customers.
“Artists sometimes don’t give that much notice, while the venues like to get the hit names,” says head of stations (interim) Dujon Toussaint.
“The concerts in May – Beyoncé’s first headline tour in seven years – were announced in February, so we had to act fast. We started by bidding for the extra paths on Network Rail’s lines to get the additional services in place. Where possible, we doubled capacity from four to eight carriages.
“Then we focused on driver availability and organising 30 extra station colleagues to ensure we had the right people in place at the right time. At the same time, we worked with the venue and the local council to understand the demand patterns for customers arriving at and leaving White Hart Lane station.”
Managing customers’ expectations by telling them about possible station congestion helped too.
“We worked with the venue on their social media messages, we put up posters and our station colleagues were there for face-to-face updates and to reassure customers,” says Dujon.
The planning work extended to include Seven Sisters station, the main interchange for many concert-goers, and other stations on the route.
“We also had an exit-only policy at the stations on either side of White Hart Lane as people left the stadium to save some capacity for customers boarding there,” says Dujon.
“Good communication between our station teams and control was crucial to help us respond dynamically to shifts in customer demand.”
The result after months of planning? “It was hugely successful,” says Dujon. “Our people worked hard to help our customers get to and from the venue safely and it all paid off.”
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