Siscog and Norwegian State Railways (NSB) are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the system used by the national railway in planning its operations. Siscog’s Crews-based system, TPO, became fully operational at NSB in 2005 and has kept up with NSB’s growth in several areas ever since, namely its 50 percent passenger traffic increase since 2007. For 10 years TPO has been in full and continuous use and has helped the Norwegian operator optimally plan and manage different types of personnel.
For NSB, TPO marked the beginning of a project that would revolutionize the way operational planning was done, impacting working methods and beliefs, hence eliminating inefficiencies and propensity for errors. For Siscog this project set a significant milestone: after being selected among 13 shortlisted companies during an international public tender, and after a technical audit by a multinational consulting firm, Siscog was given the opportunity to prove itself to yet another Scandinavian and demanding customer.
Today TPO system, based on the Crews product, contributes to the planning of more than 2,000 people, including drivers, guards and operation centre personnel and 24 depots, covering all phases of planning, from long-term planning to dispatching in the day-of-operation.
In Peter Hausken’s words, NSB IT-manager operations, “TPO has helped NSB improve the quality of its plans and reports and has allowed a uniform use of rules and regulations besides preventing accidental violations of rules or misinterpretations.”
To celebrate the event, Siscog offered in a symbolic gesture an astrolabe to NSB, an angle-measuring tool used by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century for navigating. Upon presenting the astrolabe, João Pavão Martins’, Siscog’s CEO, expressed his wishes in having, “Siscog and TPO always helping NSB to find better ways of navigating into the ever changing future.”
