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Case Study: Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn

Timesaving and efficient personnel disposition and wage accounting

Snapshot

The SZU Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn operates 2 suburban lines in and around Zurich, and also a cable car. The SZU receives federal and municipal funding, and it is also funded by the canton of Zurich.
No. km: 900,000 km/year
No. passengers: 9.2 million/year
No. employees: 40 in the transport service
Main roles: Scheduling and operating the S4 and S10 lines, the Felseneggbahn and the Zimmerberg bus
Trapeze products: Personnel planning and payroll accounting

Business Case

The SZU was working with a 20-year-old operations software package that it had developed in-house, but which was no longer able to meet the company's needs. Excessive payroll costs, a lack of user friendliness and breaks in sequences of operations made the old system expensive and ineffective. For example, some routes constantly had to be re-programmed by one person. Working out employees' expenses and timesheets took up one or two days every month. Even then there was still a considerable risk of error, so the results always had to be checked. Valuable time was wasted on an unnecessarily lengthy work process.

A new problem was Schweizer Bahn's latest timetable change. This required a great deal of extra work, primarily by the train drivers, who originally did the scheduling work. For these reasons the SZU searched the market for a new software solution , testing five other alternatives in addition to the Trapeze system. In the end though only the Trapeze Group was able to meet all the demands.

Objective

It was important for the SZU that the new system was able to present a coherent and clear work process and ensure savings on labor. The scheduling was organized into short, medium and long-term scheduling - a task that was to be supported by a new planning tool. Short-term scheduling was handed over to the stations inspector, so that he and a few other people could do the scheduling work.

Installation

Installation, training and the introduction of the software in a ‘live’ environment were completed in stages in close collaboration with SZU employees. The project was managed by a Trapeze project manager, who was available at all times and who decided on deadlines and activities on site. And not least, the enthusiasm and dependability of the SZU project team contributed to what was a very positive outcome for the project.

The safety margin that had been built in as a precaution was not needed, as a result of which the system was ready for use nearly three months sooner than had been planned. This also meant that parallel operations could be significantly reduced and proceeded without any problems.

Solution

"The disposition is now entirely supported by the Trapeze System, an easy-to-use system that can also be understood by employees who only deal with it sporadically, rather than on a daily basis" says Markus Kern. Production Manager, SZU. "We can see that the system will also save on costs, and we assume that the investment will have paid for itself in one year.

Results

For the future, the SZU hopes to benefit from an expansion of the system with online information via its intranet or the Internet, where every employee can find out about his or her working hours, account status and leave or holiday planning. It is also important for the SZU to know that the Trapeze system already offers these expansion possibilities. Expansion to include journey and service planning is also possible as and when required

For further information, call Markus Kern on: tel. +41 1206 45 10