60 SECONDS WITH DUNCAN WILKINS

Every Month on Exchange Extra, we take sixty seconds out to get to know our team. Follow us on our journey to connect all members of our network.

This month we introduce you to Duncan Wilkins!

Name:  Duncan Wilkins

Current Role: Head of Engineering

Location: Palestra

Hi Duncan! Please sum up your role in one sentence As head of engineering, I lead the technical engineering team at ARL. Between us, we manage all engineering changes and fleet performance and ensure the fleet complies with all relevant legal legalisation when operating and maintaining trains.

Tell us about your journey to ARL… My career has been long and varied, having joined British Rail at the tender age of sixteen as a plant and machinery apprentice to then working for various train operating companies; the bulk of my career has been with Southwest Trains, where I held the role of head of engineering and engineering director. Since the end of their franchise, I have worked for c2c, Greater Anglia and now ARL. But always in a technical engineering/compliance role.

What do you enjoy about working at ARL? Having been with ARL for three months, I found it a lovely workplace. It’s been easy to start engaging with all the different teams across the business. In other TOCs I wouldn’t necessarily have had the cross-functional engagement I’ve seen here and maybe helped by the fact that we are in one place. Although it’s a busy company it appears close-knit over a small geographical area which helps.

In your career so far, what are you most proud of? Throughout my career, I have had a fantastic opportunity to be involved in the introduction of cutting-edge technology to the railway, from new tamping machines, Kirow cranes and the introduction of class 707 on Southwest Trains. Since 2017 I have been extensively involved with the Aventra platform across various TOCs.

Tell us about your most memorable railway trip… My most memorable railway trip would’ve been as a fitter with Balfour Beatty. I was working on Railhead Treatment Trains as a standby fitter and travelling on an out-of-control train going down Gomshall Bank between Guildford and Reigate. With a speed reading of 20 mph, I’m damn sure we were travelling at 80 mph. It certainly focused the mind...

If you could book a ticket to any destination, where would you go? Venice. I love Venice. I love the city, the ambience, the food and I quite like the Italians.