Operations – Community of Metros Benchmarking Group

Research: Employee Satisfaction

October 11, 2025June 30, 2025

Keeping metro staff satisfied is essential to the successful operation of metro systems. Metros face the unique challenge of managing a diverse range of job roles, both operational and office-based, which shapes staff expectations and the types of employee satisfaction initiatives that are possible.

The research provides an overview of employee satisfaction initiatives that were successfully conducted by metros, exploring approaches for improving collaboration and communication within metro organisations. It also provides an update on the status of flexible working options that are offered by metros as well as good practices to engage newer and younger employees.

Examples of employee satisfaction initiatives

Research: Performance of New Fleets

October 11, 2025June 20, 2025

Rolling stock performance typically follows a ‘bathtub curve’ throughout a vehicle’s ~40-year lifecycle. This is characterised by higher rates of failures in the early stages due to design or assembly defects or staff unfamiliar with the equipment, which falls to a lower, relatively stable rate of failures during the normal operating period. We would then expect failure rates to increase again towards mid-life or end of life.

The study analyses rolling stock failure rates of individual vehicles within a metro fleet relative to their time in service, allowing members to compare the bathtub curve for new fleet failures across metros and within fleets.

Factors impacting failure rates of new fleets

Research: Congestion Management in Stations and Trains

October 3, 2024

As passengers continue to return to using metro more frequently post COVID-19, many metros have experienced constraints on train and station capacity. In some cases, this increased congestion can also result in safety issues that can have catastrophic impacts on customers and the reputation of the metros themselves.

This study summarised magnitude and trends in congestion on metro systems, and further looked at the implemented technologies that allow for mitigations to be put in place. It also identified emergency response and congestion management training that is provided to regular station staff and operational staff on trains.

An overview of best practices for managing congestion in stations and on trains is discussed in the report, with a focus on smaller and shorter-term solutions that can be deployed quickly by member metros.

Research: Preparing for Extreme Weather and Climate Change

October 3, 2024August 28, 2024

In the last five years, more than half of COMET metros have been impacted by flooding (74%), high winds/storms (62%) and extreme heat (50%), and many have also been impacted by cold weather and snow (45%), drought (22%) and wildfire (16%). Concerningly, three quarters of metros have noticed an increase in weather events impacting metro operations in recent years. These events pose significant risks to metro infrastructure, operations and the safety of passengers and staff.

*Factors Making a Metro Vulnerable to Extreme Weather*

The latest COMET study on Preparing for Extreme Weather and Climate Change reviews how member metros prepare for and manage upcoming periods of extreme weather and their plans to adapt infrastructure and operations in the longer term to deal with the impacts of climate change.