Operational Audit and Solutions for Birmingham New Street Station

This report provides an operational audit of Birmingham New Street Station, identifying problems and offering innovative solutions. It covers crowd management, train platform and ticket buying operations, information and layout, technology, and more. The report also suggests solutions such as having the right number of staff, streamlining check-in, providing a portfolio, and using digital technology. The stakeholders of the Commonwealth Games are also discussed.

INTERNATIONAL
TOURISM MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................3
Operational audit.........................................................................................................................3
Operational audit template..........................................................................................................5
TASK B...........................................................................................................................................6
TASK C...........................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
International tourism management is related with the contexts of business tactics that
covers tourism, cross- culture competence and some social factors. It is a study about the tourism
experience and principles that will help in organising people and transport. It deals with
managing human resources while building an understanding about the relevant legal and
legislation issues (Aryanti, and Sudarmadi, 2020). Birmingham new street is a railway station
that includes being one of the busiest. It is built with an Italianate style that offers very general
appearance. It has grand central shopping centre that is located above the street railway. This
report deals with the operational audit that will help in identifying problems in the operations of
this railway station along with some recommendation that are innovative as well as realistic
solutions.
TASK A
Operational audit
This term refers to various methods that helps in determining the ways by which an
organisation will conduct its business. It requires analysing the process and systems that is used
for the purpose of determining financial circumstances while examining different management
practices. Operational audit focus on the effectiveness, productivity along with cost efficient
ways that can be used in the operations within an organisation (Lane, 2018). Operational audits
will highlight the things that the business has dealt with before and will not make the same
mistakes and vulnerabilities in the operational process. It helps in bringing optimised efficiency
with the help of auditing internal policies and procedures to help the company in identifying
trouble spots so that the operations can be managed in effective manner. Along with this the
customer are help to determining the proper detail related to the operation process also it is help
to there are so many problems which are facing by the custome so it is important to share all the
information with the customer so that Cited firm will understand the situation and take the
decision accordingly.
The criteria used within the operational audits includes points that are evaluating
effectiveness as well as the efficiency of the operations process. It includes setting up policies
and procedures to be written in proper standards (Fachruzzaman, Permatasari, and Abdullah,

2021). The audit criteria is written in accordance with the matter of subject along with the
objectives that are measurable. This suitable criteria is the key to success within an audit that will
focus on the intended outcomes. It is no need to allow for a reasonable measurement while
determining the context of professional judgement. Criteria for operational audits includes,
policies and procedures, internal controls, law, regulations, best practices and many more.
For example Birmingham new street station is railway station that has a shopping
complex popularly known as grand central. It went under major haul where it was redesigned
with atrium roof being the centrepiece and having many shops and business operations running
in the building along with a railway station (Jang, Kim, and Min, 2018). It has many facilities
and connects various areas in UK.
The various operational issues or problems faced by the Birmingham new street station includes:
Crowd management: This station has experienced an increase in the number of
passengers travelling during the peak times with a lot of individuals passing through the station.
This makes the station over- crowded where the first priority becomes the safety of passengers as
well as the working staff (Lane, 2018). This has led to take the decision of restricting access to
the station in order to alleviate the problems with over- crowding while minimising the
disruption caused to rail travellers. However, a long-term solution is required with the increase in
passengers flow.
Train platform and ticket buying operations: The time and route for the train’s changes
regularly, and is causing problems for many of its passengers (Kesimli, 2019.). There are
different zones that are segregated on the basis of colour which is confusion while changing the
trains. Platforms are very narrow that creates a chaos between the people waiting to get into the
train and the ones getting out. Moreover, there is no easily accessible ticket machines present at
this railway station.
Provide information and layout: The platform for this station is very clean while it is
poorly signed. There are no stairs but just escalators and using the same can be annoying for
many travellers (Speirs and Stephenson, 2019). There are no free toilets except the disabled ones.
There are many barriers to reach there and that too with an escalator or lift towards the shopping
centre in the Grand central. Design is poor and creates many issues for everyday travellers.
Technology: There are many issues related with the poor signalling that is leading to
many trains to delay and even get cancelled from the Birmingham new street station. There are

many train services affected due to bad technology and signalling such as fewer platforms
available for operations.
Operational audit template
Criteria Observed practice Online
Ticket buying facilities It is not that great, there are
issues such as a lot of chose
during peak times.
https://
www.globalrailwayreview.co
m/article/16292/the-grand-
central-experience-an-
operational-and-safety-
management-perspective/
Information There is a lot of confusion
regarding different platforms
and zones.
https://
www.expressandstar.com/
news/transport/2017/11/23/
west-midlands-rail-chaos-
signalling-problems-at-
birmingham-new-street-cause-
delays-and-cancellations/
Cleanliness It is very clean https://
www.nationalrail.co.uk/
stations_destinations/bhm.aspx

Facilities There are ATM machines,
business areas equipped with
charging points, and many
other feature including updated
train information (Varey,
2022).
https://
www.nationalrail.co.uk/
stations_destinations/bhm.aspx
https://
www.expressandstar.com/
news/transport/2017/11/23/
west-midlands-rail-chaos-
signalling-problems-at-
birmingham-new-street-cause-
delays-and-cancellations/
Availability of wifi and
charging points
Wifi is available https://
www.nationalrail.co.uk/
stations_destinations/bhm.aspx
https://
www.globalrailwayreview.co
m/article/16292/the-grand-
central-experience-an-
operational-and-safety-
management-perspective/
Design and layout It is not proper such as not
having proper stairs and very
small platforms.
https://
www.globalrailwayreview.co
m/article/16292/the-grand-
central-experience-an-
operational-and-safety-
management-perspective/
Crow management Not proper, restricted access to
the platforms.
https://
www.networkrailmediac
entre.co.uk/news/
capacity-control-issues-

at-birmingham-new-
street
Toilet facilities These are not easily accessible
and require to go towards the
grand central areas of the
station.
https://
www.nationalrail.co.uk/
stations_destinations/bhm.aspx
Connections with other forms
of transport
It has easy lanes that leads to
easy connection with different
public transport (Pollitt,
2021).
https://
www.nationalrail.co.uk/
stations_destinations/bhm.aspx
TASK B
Most common stakeholder of the commonwealth games are Birmingham committee of
2022; this is taken all the responsibility related to operational and planning of the games. This is
also included all the activities which are related to sports programme, ceremony, competition and
venue (Matthews, 2021). The CGE (commonwealth games association) of England had
partnership with the HMG which is stand for Her majesty government, BCC (Birmingham city
council) and WMCA hosted XXLL commonwealth games with federation.
Commonwealth sport foundation- CSF is founded in 2020 as the charitable foundation, it
generates funds through donations and also supported the voluntaries and charities (Keech,
2018).. This also use the platforms of the sports and help the regional, local and citizenship
which are faced the problem of social, poverty, racial and inequality etc.
Executive management team- The executive management team has taken responsibility for
delivering the successful Games and oversee the important business areas of Birmingham 2022.
From the above task it has been seen that there are so many problems identified and also
providing the possible solution for all the problems-
Having right numbers of staff- For managing the crowd it is very important to having the
right numbers of staff in order to manage the audience because team should understand how to
manage them while they come beyond the expectations. Also, all the staff member should use

the Walkie-talkies in order to communicate with other (Yang, 2020). It is very necessary to
manage the crowd in an efficient way, there are major key point which should focus over the
staff such as check-in line for them who are going to allow and checked the pass which are
provided by the committee because there so many people who are not supposed to come without
pass. Seated areas should be perfect which are allotted at the category wise such as VVIP, VIP,
normal seats. This is the way where it controls the crowd.
Streamline check-in to reduce queues- People are getting confuse while buying the
tickets for the train because of improper management. For avoiding the problem, it is important
to manage the crowd making ques is another good way to come along with the crowd. Also,
should focus on the multiple ticket counter in order to avoid any problems regarding the ticket
distribution and also provide the possible solutions (Skillen and McDowell, 2017). All the update
related to train timing could be show in the online so that people can understand it without any
confusion. More and more ticket counter availability are necessary because of the maintaining
the social distancing. Also, providing the screen attendees so that people get to know about the
possibility of available seats (Keech, 2018).
Provide portfolio- This is very important to provide portfolio related to time table of the games
so that people are aware about the proper management. All the information related to facilities
should included in the portfolio so people come according to that such as providing special
washrooms for those who are disable and also provide them proper stairs facility so they can use
lift for disable people and that is why it can avoid the problem of the platform for this station is
very clean while it is poorly signed. There are no stairs but just escalators and using the same can
be annoying for many travelers (Kumar and Leung, 2007). There are no free toilets except the
disabled ones. There are many barriers to reach there and that too with an escalator or lift
towards the shopping Centre in the Grand central. Design is poor and creates many issues for
everyday travelers.
Digital technology- With the help of digital technology committee should provide all the
possible solutions for the emergencies such as fire, heavy rain etc. So that people are taking care
of their family and friend in order to make them safe (Kappelides, and Barry, 2021). Also,
provide proper security for audience and sports person who are participated in it in order to make

them safe. For example, when suddenly problem arises related to fire so the security should
aware about the problem and provide them proper care and find a way for emergency
(Kappelides and Barry, 2021). It is very important to provide all the possible solutions because it
helps to increases the productivity of the organization and it attract the audience so that they can
participated in it.
TASK C
Stakeholders of the games are members of different groups, that included experts and the
public, which can provide unique thought on an issue (Farndon, and Burton, 2019). In the case
of gaming, it provides all the services related to planning and organising the game so that it
shows in a good way to maintain all the activities with the proper time table.
CGF partnership and commonwealth games federation
Sport underpins the distinctive connections and friendships that bring together a 3rd of the
world’s population as people of the territories and 82 nations of the Commonwealth. For more than
eight decades, the (CGF) Commonwealth Games Federation has tied up a global leadership role in
uniting the athletes, citizens and communities through the transformative and connecting power of
sports. The Commonwealth Games Federation is the organisation responsible for the strategic
direction of the Commonwealth Games, CGF and associated initiatives and projects across the
Commonwealth Sport Movement (Svensson and Loat, 2019). Working with 76 Commonwealth
Games Associations (CGAs) across seven regions, the CGF creates sustainable, peaceful and
prosperous communities across the organisation.
Safety and security an aspect of facility operations management. It is one of the two distinct but
inter-related concepts (Council, 2020). Safety is the state of being free from danger, which can
lead to injury, death, loss or damage to property. Security is the act or process for ensuring a
state for being free to threat and danger to lives and properties. However, sports facility it is a
condition of being free from danger, capable from resulting to injury and/or loss of lives of
sports persons, and/or damage to properties of sports persons (Whitley,and Massey, 2019.).
Sports facility security and safety is the action of process of ensure about the sports facility is
free from danger that capable of leading to loss of lives and/or properties of sports producers and
consumers including sports facility itself emanating from using or being in or around a sports
facility (Farndon and Burton, 2019). The aspects of security and safety in a stadium are fire

safety and prevention; structural safety; architectural safety; operational safety, and segregation
of rival supporters (UEFA, 2011). This provide security and safety of sports facility is a vital
aspect of sports facility management. Security and safety, according to Union of European
Football Associations (UEFA) (2011), are the most important aspects of the planning, design,
construction, running and management of any stadium.
All the possible solutions provided by the report is consider by the stakeholder in order to
maintain the proper facility to the person who are going to participate in it also explaining the
recommendation which are important for the organisation.
It is important to follow those solution for in order to attract the audience and safety is necessary
at any place with the help of meeting the goals of organisation (Atzori, L., Iera, A. and Morabito,
G., 2010).
 People are getting confuse about the timing of the train and it disturb them and make
chaos at the station.
 So, stakeholder should focus on the particular solution so that they get to know about all
the possible solution (Whitley and Massey, 2019).
 Being providing best facility increases the revenue generation from the audience and also
get large number of donations.
 It has been recommended that there are important to use the transport plan in such a way
so that there are large number of audience will participated in the games. Also, focus on
more motor vehicle that are help in the transport planning.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that operational audit is conducted to provide with information that
are related to the facilities and operations done by the organisations. There are points of criteria
to be considered while conducting an audit. These criteria will determine if the operations are
going good or bad. There are many parameters that are best in the Birmingham new street
railway, while there are some areas where improvement is required. The solution provided for
issues faced by this railway station are clear aligned to address the problems. Common wealth
games includes many stakeholders, it is important that steps taken for the grand central and new
street railway station will benefits all of the stakeholders. The solutions provided supports the
main principles associated with Birmingham 2022 commonwealth games transport plan. It

includes green transport that is safe and secure, less disruption along with easy access to
important areas.

REFERENCES
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Birminghan new street, [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/bhm.aspx>
Capacity control issues at Birmingham new street, 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/capacity-control-issues-at-birmingham-
new-street>