Legal
Deciphering the rail industry
Michelle Craven-Faulkner discusses the challenges of being a rail lawyer and the need to make it easier for the supply chain
M
ichelle Craven-Faulkner had only planned to work in the rail industry for a year. Graduating from De Montfort University with a law degree, she had turned down a training contract to be a criminal lawyer to pursue commercial business law instead. “I got into my head in order to do that properly I needed to work in a business first, and it was just by chance that a Commercial Advisor job came up at Alstom working within RMS as it was known then,” she said. “I didn’t know much about the industry, but it was working in a commercial team which I thought would be a good path to follow with wanting to go along the commercial business law route. “It was never intended to be long term and being quite forthright I even said in the interview that I would be there for a year – which quite frankly if someone said that to me in an interview they wouldn’t get a look in.” Expanding role One year turned into nearly six years, which included being the company’s contract manager for the Northern and Jubilee lines, as well as being involved with the West Coast main line. “During my time at Alstom I was also involved with all the sSRA (shadow Strategic Rail Authority) tendering process and then worked predominantly for Alstom Transport doing everything on First Great Western, First North Western, ScotRail, South West Trains and Gatwick Express as well as projects further afield.” Although Michelle left Alstom and the rail industry to go into private practice, it was only a matter of weeks before she was lured back to the sector.
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“It was about that point I got involved in the Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum back in 2004/2005 and it has just carried on from there,” she said. “I was doing work for other industries but I carried on doing the rail work before settling, thinking I’ll stay here, I like this. “I’ve been involved with the Rail Forum ever since, and I’ve been Vice-Chair for just over 12 years now. When I look at my current order book in terms of the work I do now it is probably 70-80 per cent rail work and I’m good with that and being a rail lawyer. I adore trains and drive my family absolutely bonkers that every time we
go anywhere in the world I’ll be looking to see who designed the train and make sure we go on a train somewhere while we are away.” A passion for trains Her passion for the railways is as strong as her passion to create change for the better for the railways. Over the past two decades she has built up a wealth of contracting experience in the industry, while acting for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and various members of the industry supply chain, with a focus on both rolling stock and infrastructure.
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