Rail Project Management
Rail Industry and Project Management
Increasing customer satisfaction, increasing rail safety, improving performance, controlling costs – getting the basics right continue to be a main objective along with increasing project delivery capability and tackling some heavy weight rail programmes and projects (completion of the West Coast Route Modernisation programme, Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Thameslink, Heathrow Terminal 5, ERTMS, Crossrail, King’s Cross station to name but a few). There is certainly a lot of activity within the rail industry today.
Rail Project Management Professionals
In many industries where specific sector knowledge is needed, attracting the right staff and retaining them is a major issue and the rail sector is no exception. With many rail-related organisations all looking for employees with specific experience gained in the industry there is always going to be a shortfall of top talent. With retention, the industry is focusing on improving project management capability with a move to project management accreditation and specific targeted development plans – the benefits that all good employees look for.
For the future, the industry will be looking at where their next employees will be coming from – overseas nationals with experience from their own country’s developments in the rail networks or "career of choice" project managers, fresh from university.
Project Management Capabilities, Tools and Techniques in the Rail Industry
With an increasing number of rail sector programmes and projects planned for the future as well as existing maintenance and upgrading work there has never been a greater need for programme and project management capabilities and a push for excellence in programme and project delivery. Processes and methodologies such as GRIP (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) or APM’s Body of Knowledge and specific toolsets and systems such as P3, Pertmaster, Earned Value Analysis are already embedded and widely used within the rail sector from organisations such as Network Rail and TfL through to railway contractors and suppliers.
The industry is already taking steps to improve on processes, systems and tools. The hope is to achieve not only excellence in programme and project delivery (efficiently, effectively and safely), but also to develop their staff (and increase retention) and implement a best-practice model which ensures programmes and projects continue to be delivered well. In addition, the best-practice model aims to make delivery of some of the most innovative and complex projects much easier.
Arras People Providing Project Management Professionals to the Rail Industry
Arras People has predominantly worked with a major rail consultancy organisation for the last 12 months – providing programme managers, project managers, project planners and project engineers with specific experience in civil engineering, control and systems and railway operations consultancy experience. Candidates with knowledge of the UK railways infrastructure environment coupled with specific knowledge in areas such as design, signalling, tracks, stations etc and with proven programme and project management delivery experience are the norm at Arras People.
A small sample of the types of rail project management roles recruited for, include;
Arras People provide project management resources at all levels including;
Rail Project Management Candidates Available Today
Arras People has registered candidates looking for both permanent and interim roles, a significant proportion have skills and experience within the rail and engineering sectors.
Candidate Overviews
- Project disciplines include: electrical, mechanical, structural, civil, communications, signalling, control and information
- PPP/PFI project management experience
- Bid proposal management
- Possession Planning experience
- Chartered Professional Engineers
- Risk management and mitigation
- Project Planning and Earned Value Analysis
- Contract Management
- Stakeholder Management
- Team Management - Estimators, Project Planners, Quality Assurance, Engineers
- Full lifecycle from feasibility to handback
Standards Manager
The Rail Safety and Standards Board, lead and facilitate the railway industry's work to achieve continuous improvement. Not all Arras People's rail project management recruitment is for rail operations and trackside projects. RSSB turned to Arras People when looking for a Standards Planning and Improvement Manager. The core skills of the role included managing a porftolio of projects across the business which needed previous rail industry knowledge and experience.
Sectors We Work In
