A Tower Controller in Charge and the Local Controller reported the Airport Surface Detection alerted when an aircraft taxied onto the same runway another aircraft was taking off from.
Synopsis
A Tower Controller in Charge and the Local Controller reported the Airport Surface Detection alerted when an aircraft taxied onto the same runway another aircraft was taking off from.
Narrative
At XA35z; Aircraft X crossed Runway XR at Taxiway 1 while Aircraft Y began takeoff roll on Runway XR. ASDE alert triggered but Aircraft Y was airborne at the time of the alert from what I can recall. Aircraft X resumed taxi to the Gate. At the time of the incident I was assisting Ground Control (GC) with Clearance Delivery (CD) duties including calling for reroutes and organizing flight plan tickets. Once the incident occurred; I immediately called the Supervisor in the building to the Tower Cab and relief controllers to the Tower. Ground and CD were split off and we resumed normal operations.With the complexity of weather; ZZZ Center stops and swaps; and Runway configuration changes; as the Controller in Charge taking over the position I should have split GC and CD into separate positions. When taking the position I should have assessed the situation and made the determination vs listening to the incoming and outgoing controllers stating the CD position opening wasn't necessary. I've learned from this scenario that I need to constantly reassess Controller workload and staff appropriately during periods of complexity.
Second reporter narrative
I had just taken over local during a runway configuration change from Runway XR to Runway YYC. Runway YYC was in use for arriving and departing aircraft but several aircraft were holding short and waiting to depart Runway XR. The taxi routes from the YYC arrivals to the terminal cross Runway XR. I saw that the ground controller had Aircraft X holding short of Runway XR. I asked the ground controller if he needed to cross Runway XR with that aircraft. The response was a negative; and shortly thereafter I heard the ground controller instruct a previous arrival to taxi to the gate and issued a hold short instruction for Runway XR. At this time I cleared Aircraft Y for takeoff on Runway XR. During the departure roll; after the aircraft was airborne; the ASDE alerted for Runway XR and I observed Aircraft X crossing near the departure end of Runway XR. Aircraft Y continued their departure climb and I instructed them to contact departure.Cross runway operations are a routine operation especially during IFR conditions. Arrival gaps are small enough where utilizing same runway departures and arrivals can become overly inefficient. In my opinion; the runway configuration change during a busy period of arrivals and departures and lack of clear communication contributed to this event. Additionally; clearance delivery was combined with ground control during a period of convective activity when many aircraft were in need of re routes. This added dramatically to the ground controller's workload.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.