Rail Partners' Conference at RSN 2024

Conference by

4 July 2024 - Derby Arena - 10am to 3pm

Hosted by Rail Partners, attendees will hear from leading industry speakers from companies including Greater Anglia, Angel Trains, the Global Centre for Rail Excellence, Stadler, East West Rail, Rail Forum and the Railway Industry Association (RIA)

Rail Partners’ conference at Rolling Stock Networking returns for a second year

Following its success last year, the conference from Rail Partners at Rolling Stock Networking is returning for a second year. Drawing upon Rail Partners’ industry expertise, the conference will focus on delivering a high performing railway through rolling stock innovation and depot transformation.

Hosted by Mark Gaynor and Neil Ovenden of Rail Partners, attendees will hear from leading industry speakers from companies including Greater Anglia, Angel Trains, the Global Centre for Rail Excellence, Stadler, East West Rail, Rail Forum and the Railway Industry Association (RIA). This year, the conference will address two important themes.

How can innovation deliver higher performing and more cost-effective rolling stock for new and existing fleets?

How can depots enable a high performing railway and create great places to work?

Following an introduction from Greater Anglia’s head of engineering, Ben Parry, the morning session will consider how innovation can deliver higher performing and more cost-effective rolling stock for new and existing fleets.

Matt Prosser, the asset management director at Angel Trains, will then focus on what rolling stock innovation can offer to customers.

Kelly Warburton, chief commercial officer at GCRE, will follow by looking at the role of railway test facilities in enabling innovation in the future.

To close the morning session, Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain, innovation manager at East West Rail, will join the morning speakers on a panel to discuss how to balance the needs and costs of the railway today whilst pushing the boundaries of rolling stock innovation.

The event is free to attend for all delegates to RSN 2024.

Visit www.rsnevents.co.uk to register.

In the afternoon session the focus will turn to transforming depots to enable a high performing railway.

With depot-based activity often out of sight, the two afternoon session speakers, Steve Mitchell, head of fleet north for Greater Anglia and James McCaffery, UK head of programmes at Stadler, will look at how technology, tools, and new planning and operating systems can support safer and more productive depots.

The afternoon speakers will then join Cat Appleby, membership and engagement director for Rail Forum, and Richard Carr, business engagement manager at RIA, on a panel to explore how clients and suppliers can work together to unlock the full potential of depots.

During the panel sessions, audience participation will be encouraged. There will be opportunities for attendees to put their questions to the speakers and to take part in the debate on the conference’s topical discussion points. Rail Partners’ conference is open to all attendees of Rolling Stock Networking and is free of charge.

Providing delegates with a unique opportunity to hear from industry leaders and to be involved at the Rail Partners Conference at RSN 2024....the only real question is can you afford not to be there?

Picture Stadler

Rail Partners’ conference at the Rolling Stock Networking event

Join us at a Rail Partners conference which will run between 10am and 3pm at the Annual Rolling Stock Networking Event.

The conference features ten leading industry professionals who will share their knowledge and experience during a series of presentations and audience participation sessions.

With sessions throughout the day and speakers drawn from all sectors of the rail industry, the topics will be varied and will undoubtedly have much to interest all delegates.

Find us to the left of the entrance on the raised area within the main hall at Derby Arena.

Meet the compère, speakers and participants

Mark Gaynor

director of operator services

Mark has most recently been the Head of Railway Strategy at the Rail Delivery Group where his focus was on improving the performance and planning of the railway. Mark also led on sustainability within RDG as a member of the Rail Industry Decarbonisation Taskforce - which has developed a vision for how the railway can fully decarbonise - and the Sustainable Rail Leadership Group.

Mark worked at the Department for Transport, before joining RDG in 2017. During his time in the department he worked on issues including the development of road vehicle safety standards, introducing new tax systems and incentives to encourage cleaner vehicles, developing the business cases for rail electrification schemes and leading the rail input to the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy.

Event Host

Neil Ovenden

head of engineering

Ben Parry

engineering director

Matt Prosser

asset management director

Neil has over 35 years professional engineering experience across the rail, white goods and energy sectors. He has worked in rail for nearly 20 years and was most recently head of engineering at Rail Delivery Group, where he led a small team of professional rolling stock engineers leading on fleet performance measurement and reporting, fleet safety and standards, innovation and technology across rail.

Neil brings significant experience in serving and delivering at a sustained high level for a member focused organisation from his time at RDG and before that at ATOC.

Benjamin is the interim engineering director for Greater Anglia, with a career spanning both supply chain and railway operations. He led several R&D programmes to develop innovative rolling stock products whilst at Bombardier. He is currently focussed on delivering operational excellent for passengers in the East of England.

Matt is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with 28 years of experience in rolling stock engineering and leadership. He joined Angel Trains in 2019 where he leads the Asset Management Directorate. Prior to joining Angel Trains, Matthew spent 14 years at Arriva with roles as Engineering and Safety Director at Chiltern Railways and Engineering Director at Arriva Trains Wales. Matthew started his career in the railways as a management trainee at Eurostar.

Event Host

Rail Partners’ conference

Kelly Warburton

chief commercial officer

Previously Managing Director of UK and Europe for Unipart Rail, Kelly began her rail industry career with Alstom in 2001. She joined NRS, now Unipart Rail, in 2004 and worked her way up through the commercial division before becoming a member of the Unipart Rail Board and Group leadership team. She is also a Board member of the Rail Industry Association (RIA) and judge of the Everywoman in Transport Programme.

Daisy ChapmanChamberlain innovation manager

Daisy is the innovation manager at East West Rail; with a passion for transport transformation, accessibility, sustainability, and inclusion. She delivers innovation into this nationally significant railway project, which will deliver much-needed transport connections for communities between Oxford and Cambridge. Her main goal is to make rail better for all customers; safer, accessible, and enjoyable. Daisy is also a non-exec board member for the Community Rail Network.

Steve Mitchell head of fleet north

Steve is the head of fleet north for Greater Anglia. He has overall responsibility for the successful delivery of the Class 745/755 trains into service each day and management of the maintenance contract with Stadler. Prior to this he has held roles in Greater Anglia, as the Joint Project Manager for Stadler Fleet

Introduction, Engineering Director, Head of Engineering and Fleet Manager. Prior to this he worked for ALSTOM as the Engineering Manager for their “Metrotrains” division, helping to introduce the 95TS into service.

James McCaffery UK head of programmes

James is the UK head of programmes at Stadler Rail Service UK, and was appointed in 2023. He joined Stadler in 2021 as the programme lead for a major rolling stock overhaul initiative in Newcastle and then moved on to be the programme lead for the award winning Depot construction project in Gosforth, Newcastle.

In his current role, he acts as programme director for the introduction of the class 777 fleet in Liverpool and the programme director for the introduction of the class 555 fleet in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is responsible for the coordination and delivery of all new Stadler projects within the UK with oversight of projects in Glasgow, Leicester and Cardiff, as part of a wider Stadler portfolio.

James spent most of his early career in the army, primarily in rapid reaction units. He left with the rank of Major, moving to take up the role of Head of Service Delivery for the Tyne and Wear Metro, before joining Stadler.

Access and parking

The Derby Arena is easy to find – it’s the rounded gold-coloured building standing on Pride Park next to the Derby County football stadium. Just a short walk from Derby Station those travelling by road can just enter DE24 8JB or search for Derby Arena. Parking is FREE to Attendees.

Rail Partners’ conference

Cat Appleby

membership & engagement director

Cat is the membership and engagement director for the Rail Forum, having joined the Rail Forum team in 2019, and as a Board Member prior to this from 2016. In her role she has steadily grown the membership to its current level of 390 nationally and shaped the membership offer including developing the unique account management model. Prior to joining the Forum, Cat was Customer Account Director for a rolling stock modifications company. She spent many years working with rail and engineering firms in the UK and overseas supporting both inward investment and export activities with local, regional & national Government departments. This expertise continues to support Rail Forum activities and member aspirations for international growth.

Richard Carr

business engagement manager

Richard supports RIA members by engaging and influencing key decision-makers in the regions, delivering networking and intelligencesharing events, and supporting the delivery of the RIA Nations & Regions priorities.

Richard has extensive experience working in the rail sector, having worked as Owner and Managing Director of rail equipment manufacturer Mechan for 20 years, and having provided consultancy services for the University of Huddersfield and several supply chain companies. He was also an active member of the Rail Supply Group SME and Export workstreams and helped establish the Rail Sector Deal SME Collaboration pilot scheme.

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