Last year, I was working on a Train Attendant roster.
On paper, everything looked perfect.
- Duties calculated
- Coverage complete
- Compliance achieved
It was structured. Logical. Efficient and yet… something didn’t feel right.
Then Reality Happened. A small issue came up at one terminal station. Nothing major. Just a 5-minute platform transfer between two sides.
We adjusted it, moved a few duties and refined the plan.
But when we recalculated à The number of Attendant required went up.
That’s when it HIT Me. This is not scheduling. This is system design, because that 5-minute change didn’t just affect one duty.
If affected :
- Every round trip
- Every shift
- Every rotation across the entire system
A Leadership Lesson I didn’t expect; As planners, it’s easy to trust what the model shows. But leadership begins where the model ends.
That day taught me something important à If you only optimise what is visible, you miss what actually drives performance.
The spreadsheet was right, but the system was incomplete and in operations, incomplete understanding becomes Operational Risk.
Most people start with: “How many Attendants do we have?” and my thinking was not different, I used to think the same.
Once I understood this, I stopped asking, “How many Attendants do we have?” and started asking: What does the system actually demand?”
Because in reality:
- Headways shape train movement
- Trains drive trip volumes
- Trips define workload
- Workload ultimately defines manpower
What Leadership in Rostering really means is that Leadership is not about perfection in planning rather it about anticipating reality.
- What happens when operations deviate from the plan?
- Where will pressure build first?
- What are we overlooking today that will impact tomorrow?
Planners focus on efficiency. Leaders focus on stability.
The Most Important Number
- There is one number that defines everything:
Productive duties per Attendant per week
This is calculated after removing:
- Annual leave
- Public holidays
- Sick leave
- Training
- Weekly offs
What remains is the real output per Attendant
If this is overestimated, you don’t have a staffing problem rather You have a design problem.
- Designing Duties (Not Just Shifts)
We don’t create shifts. We design duty systems.
- Early
- Middle
- Late
Each must:
- Cover peaks
- Respect fatigue limits
- Allow breaks at terminals
- Start and end at the same location
A good duty is not just efficient—it is sustainable.
What Breaks Rosters in Real Life –
Some challenges never show up in Excel:
- Operational Domino Effect àOne delay spreads across multiple duties
- Fatigue Blind Spots à Roster is compliant… but not sustainable
- Terminal Imbalance à Attendants end up in the wrong place at the wrong time
- Roster Drift à Leave, swaps, training slowly break the original design
In high-frequency systems àTrips-based planning works better than hours-based approach as it reflects:
- Real service output
- Actual workload
Train Attendant rostering sits at the intersection of
Mathematics × Operations × Human Behavior
Get one wrong → operations struggle
Get all three right → operations become stable
What has been your biggest challenge in rostering?
Have you seen these issues in real operations?