ON THE MOVE

Officially, I’ve been in my role since September this year. However, I got a taste for IT project management in 2021 when I was involved in the introduction into Control of two major new systems, IVU and REM, while I was still a train service controller. I very much enjoyed that. It was exciting to be involved in introducing technology that is so important for the future of the railway.

It was great preparation for my current post. The main part of my job is to contract manage Telent, the partner which manages station systems assets, such as customer information screens. I also support delivery of new IT systems. Importantly, I get to keep my Controller competency so I can still help out on the operations side when required.

Finance was my occupation before I joined the railway. I worked in sales for one of the big high street banks but was made redundant in 2009. That made me think differently and look at new opportunities. Someone suggested the railway as a good career option, so I joined London Overground as a customer host.

It was a bit of a shock to the system at first. Dealing with customers face to face was a challenge but a great learning experience. The knowledge I gained about the business is still a great help today.

A talent for IT runs in my family. My father ran his own computer trading and maintenance business in India. I used to help out with that when I was young and I picked up a lot of technical skills from other engineers.

My advice to anyone at ARL? Be prepared to try something new and look outside your immediate surroundings to take that next step. ARL is great company to work for and it supports its employees to progress. It’s so exciting to be part of biggest transport hub in the world.