Attending to technology adoption in railway control rooms to increase functional resilience

Abstract. Introducing new train traffic management technologies can activate undesirable changes to operational safety. Therefore, it can be useful to understand how to expedite technology adoption in control rooms to strengthen the collaborative efforts of the human-automation team in support of resilient processes. This exploratory study presents factors that impact technology adoption. Results revealed that end-user buy-in was considered critical. Participants revealed that buy-in can be undermined when end-user expertise is not or under utilised and when horizontal communication channels are restricted. Technology issues arise when end-user work needs are not supported and when insufficient time, training or support slow adoption processes. Finally, organizational factors included: weak commitment and leadership to resource and drive project processes and dishonesty and lack of open accountability. Finally, stakeholders recognized that new projects are frequently managed from the top-down and that contributions from the bottom-up can add significant advantages toward expediting system changeovers.