60 SECONDS WITH EMMA ASKAM-JOHNS

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 welcome Emma Askam-Johns!

Name: Emma Askam-Johns

Job title: On-Time Performance Leader – for the North

Location: Palestra

Hi Emma! Please sum up your role in one sentence
To be a visible leader who drives performance improvement on the Mildmay, Lioness, and Suffragette lines. I will partner with railway operational experts and provide programme governance to our client TFL to demonstrate progress on our improvement journey.

Tell us about your journey to ARL…
I have 12 years of railway experience with Network Rail. My first five years were in finance, where I supported delivery units and operations teams with business planning and delivering to target, driving improvements and securing funding. From finance, I moved into change management.

I was first introduced to the complexity of the North London Line as I pulled together Network Rail’s North London Line performance improvement programme consisting of 70 initiatives split into 12 business streams. These ranged from bridge strike mitigation to staff engagement. The programme was so successful that the Anglia performance team asked me to cross into their team and continue the delivery. Following close collaboration with Arriva Rail London, I jumped at the opportunity to join to deliver even more improvement and broaden my experience on the operator side.

What do you look forward to most working at ARL?
Meeting the frontline teams and understanding the complex issues they face and how these affect our ability to provide a reliable service. I want to be the bridge when there is a disconnect between teams and to listen to why some initiatives we believe in have stalled so that I can provide the energy and leverage the additional support to deliver these schemes successfully.

So far, what are you most proud of in your career?
Working across multiple functions and the industry, I led the North London Line Axle Counter Improvement Programme, reducing incidents from an average of two per period to one per quarter, contributing to our joint team reaching the finals of the National Rail Awards for Outstanding Teamwork.

Tell us about your most memorable railway trip…
My most memorable train journey was riding on a steam train up through the clouds to the summit of Mount Snowdon. I first took this journey when I was seven years old. It felt like a magical journey into a dreamland. Standing on a mountain top at such a young age made me think about how big the world is, but anything was possible.

Recently, retracing this journey as a mother, I felt the terror of clinging on to two young boys as they felt the achievement of taking those few steps from the train up to the summit. As I relived the wonder through their eyes, it showed me how the exact moment could create a myriad of emotions depending on our perspectives, but both these journeys will live on in my memories forever.

If you could book a ticket to any destination, where would you go?
I would love to go to Disneyworld in Florida. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to relive the magic I’ve seen on screens since I was a child. In 2022, I went to Disneyland Paris, which was amazing, but my son tells me daily about all the rides they have in Florida that we haven’t yet had a chance to see. Making memories with my children is the best time I will ever have.