The expert skills of good project managers are required more than ever to drive the major projects dominating today’s busy railway landscape, and the RailStaff Awards took the opportunity to honour these focused, determined, and dedicated leaders.
This year, the Rail Project Manager of the Year Award was sponsored by GeoAccess. Established in 2014 to address the need for inspections on difficult access sites in the rail sector, the company works nationwide, covering a broad range of industries. GeoAccess takes pride in its ability to tackle every job no matter how big or small, with the same professional flexible approach, believing that anything is possible. The company’s mission is to be a world class leader in the services it offers.
Ricky Barsby, now Business Change Lead at LNER, took this year’s award for his leadership of LNER’s East Coast Upgrade Team.
As the biggest railway upgrade programme in many years, The East Coast Upgrade has involved a number of full and partial closures of London King’s Cross, resulting in major changes to LNER services throughout the duration of the works. An enormous level of planning has been required to ensure services remain smooth and passengers continue to enjoy an excellent experience during the disruption. As LNER’s Project Manager, Ricky developed a clear vision of the company’s approach to the project and worked closely with the project team to apply this to each of the blockades.
Ricky’s wealth of industry knowledge and experience informed his plans for the duration of the works to date. His enthusiasm, dedication to consistently deliver, a genuine care for his colleagues helped to motivate and inspire his project team.
Colleagues said: “The level of leadership and commitment that Ricky has displayed throughout the East Coast Upgrade so far has helped LNER to consistently deliver an amazing customer experience during the planned disruption and fully embed the East Coast Upgrade Project Team into the business. The engineering works will continue into 2021 and we have every confidence that we are in good hands with Ricky at the helm for the remainder of the project.”
Highly commended
Shelby Coates, Alstom Transport UK Ltd
Matt Horvai, South Rail Systems Alliance (AECOM)
