Getting safety-critical messages to every driver, around the clock

• Industry: Rail freight
• Location: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
• Size: ~380 staff, including 192+ train drivers
• On Blink since: 2024
• Interviewed: Rebecca Reinhard, Executive Assistant to the CEO, and Wendall Wilhelmus, RailOps Manager

Getting the message to the cab

One Rail Australia hauls coal across New South Wales and Queensland, from the Hunter Valley north to Mackay. Its people are spread across corporate offices, maintenance crews, and a 24/7 roster of train drivers working four days on, four off. Bec Reinhard brought Blink in; Wendall Wilhelmus, RailOps Manager, drove it on the ground.

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The challenge

Safety-critical information has to reach drivers who are rarely at a desk and never all in one place. Email wasn't cutting it.

"We were going through Outlook email, but that wasn't an effective tool to get critical information out to our train crew. Inboxes were full. They weren't even getting columns."

— Rebecca Reinhard, Assistant to the CEO

For a regulated operator, it wasn't only about sending the message. It was about proving it had been read.

"Our regulator needs to know we've communicated and our people have seen it. We were fairly old school, relying on signatures. With a 24/7 operation, there are people in the business I've never met."

Why Blink

One Rail started with the Hub, giving drivers a single place for everything they needed.

"A lot of it was around the Hub. Getting people access to all our applications in one spot, their rosters, timesheets, documents, all our perks. That's what drove them there in the first place."

Then adoption was won on the ground, driver by driver.

"In the early days we'd sit down with people one-on-one and walk them through it on their phone. When they sign on, it's about that engagement piece, making sure they're online."

— Wendall Wilhelmus, RailOps Manager

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The results

98% adoption, and 92% of the team active every month. Won over a round-the-clock, largely mobile workforce, driver by driver.

Safety-critical updates that land, and can be proven. Notices to drivers now go out as mandatory reads, all saved and searchable.

"While we can't guarantee they'll look at everything, with mandatory reads we can tick the boxes that are must-dos. That helps us meet compliance."

Drivers notice.

"When they sign on, they'll say, did you see that notice to drivers, that safety-critical information. We even celebrated getting access to a customer's bottom gate, two years of consultation, on Blink."

One app in place of many. Sign-on, leave calendar, document portal, Fitness Passport, uniform ordering, all behind a single login.

"Before Blink there were multiple apps our drivers had to access. Now they open their work phone, open Blink, straight to the Hub, and everything's in the palm of their hand."

It isn't all business. A festive video at Christmas, drivers wishing each other well, recognition for the people behind the work.

"There's opportunity to celebrate and recognize people, not just tick a box."

Leadership, face to face with the frontline. During a change at the top, Blink carried the message straight from the CEO.

"Having our CEO video himself giving a business update and put it on Blink has been a game changer. Our train crew really enjoyed that connection, instead of it trickling down the line."

"They hear it from the CEO, the same message everyone gets, rather than it changing as it goes through multiple hands."