Transit Unplugged

“We don’t build railways just for the sake of building a railway. We do it because we are going to transform people’s lives.”

Steve Butcher started his career 38 years ago with British Rail by sweeping platforms. Now, he is the Executive General Manager at John Holland. In this episode, Butcher discusses the design, build, operate, and maintain model, and what it’s like to be part of billion-dollar projects within the rail space.

He also goes into how important detail is for these massive projects. These projects are setting the agenda for generations to come, and what they look like from day one will be different from year seven. And as Butcher says, it’s about making “railways as easy as going to the pub or the chip shop… [it’s making] public transport so easy that people don’t even think of any other mode of transport.”

If you want to know more about John Holland, check out their website.

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“I’m a railwayman. I dream about railways. I probably have for 59 and three-quarter years.”

The Australian adventure continues with Howard Collins, CEO of Sydney Trains and New South Wales (NSW) TrainLink. Collins started his career at London Transport eventually working his way to the role of COO of the London Underground before making the jump to the land Down Under. On this episode, he discusses rebuilding a system while trying to increase capacity. He also elaborates on the importance of accountability and shares an anecdote about how railways can revitalize communities. Finally, and impressively, Collins notes that he has traveled 133,000 kilometers on his service – now that’s someone that loves public transport. 

If you want to know more about Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink, you can check out the Transport for NSW website.

Remember to check out transitunplugged.com to learn from top transit professionals and stay up to date to catch all the latest episodes.

“Our whole mission is about making the city attractive, safe, and easy to move around.”

We continue with part five of our seven-part series of Transit Unplugged in the land Down Under. This week we are joined by Emma Thomas, former Director-General at Transport Canberra. Thomas started her career as an aeronautical engineer and joined the Air Force. She discusses how Transport Canberra “puts the livability in Canberra.” Thomas also talks how public transit plays into our well-being (mental health and health of a city), and new ways to make people more mobile – Transport Canberra’s new light rail line, the importance of data and journey planning, and the potential of new transportation modes.

If you want to know more about Transport Canberra, you can check out their website.

Remember to check out transitunplugged.com to learn from top transit professionals and stay up to date to catch all the latest episodes.

“Railways are very, very complicated systems, and they require thousands of things to happen in order each day for them to work effectively.”

Continuing our adventure Down Under, our guest has spent his entire career in the rail industry. James Pinder started as an engineer in the U.K. before eventually becoming the CEO of V/Line, the regional rail operator for the state of Victoria, Australia. Pinder discusses the challenge of trying to modernize the whole system while V/Line’s service is growing (at ~10% per year). He also gets into his philosophy of how he builds his team and the culture of V/Line. Finally, he lets us know that “V/Line is about improving in the basics around safety, performance, operational excellence, customer satisfaction, and coming right back to why we exist.”

If you want to know more about V/Line, you can check out their website.

Remember to check out transitunplugged.com to learn from top transit professionals and stay up to date to catch all the latest episodes.

“The mission of this organization is to be the most respected and the best railway in Australia.”

Our adventure continues in the land Down Under with CEO of Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM), Raymond O’Flaherty. On this episode, O’Flaherty discusses why MTM focuses on passenger experience as a measurement of success in addition to your standard reliability of service KPIs. He also elaborates on the importance of interchanges between systems and modes, the investment into MTM, his focus on teamwork, and why he created a podcast to communicate better with his organization.

If you want to know more about Metro Trains Melbourne, you can check out their website.

Remember to check out transitunplugged.com to learn from top transit professionals and stay up to date to catch all the latest episodes.