THE Covid-19 pandemic, unprecedented industrial action, delays to the delivery of a new fleet and uncertainty over future industry reform are among the challenges that British passenger operator South Western Railway (SWR) has endured over the last few years.

Many of these issues have been out of the operator’s control. And as SWR managing director, Ms Claire Mann, revealed to the Rail Industry Association (RIA) annual conference in London on November 2, it would have been easy for SWR to roll over, and for performance and company morale to dwindle. Instead, she focused on what the operator could control and improve: its people.

SWR has implemented a new strategy in the last two years, which focuses on the performance of its staff and their relationship with customers. The objective is to restore both trust among passengers and pride in the railway as a good place to work, which Mann feels has been lost. New leadership training was central to these efforts. Mann said that many of SWR’s managers have simply risen through the ranks by default, meaning that they did not necessarily possess the people skills integral to effective leadership. Specialist workshops attended by 750 SWR managers attempted to address this. “They are good at the technical side of their job, but they have never had the training to effectively deliver and lead people,” Mann said.

The strategy also emphasises improving inclusiveness. SWR’s Step Up programme is offering support for talented women who want to advance to more senior roles. Assistance for people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities who want to move up into management roles, but perhaps lack the confidence to progress, is similarly available. Mentoring programmes are also in place throughout the company, including reverse mentoring where frontline staff regularly update senior management on the situation on the ground.

Building a greater sense of belonging extends to the customer. Mann said there has been increased engagement with the more than 100 volunteer organisations that help to maintain stations across the SWR network. The operator has also built partnerships with charity organisations, including to install defibrillators at stations, and has secured funding to improve the appearance of many stations on its network. “It’s made a difference to how people feel about the railway,” Mann said.

Recruitment processes have also been revised, with Mann saying that SWR has altered its job descriptions, objectives and the way new recruits are onboarded. Even apprenticeship programmes are seeking to deliberately encourage young people who love the railway to play a part in making it even better.

The results are impressive with the lowest level of absence due to staff sickness the operator has even seen as well as improvements in train punctuality. Mann also reports strong buy-in from staff for the group’s sustainability plan and road map to net zero. Feeling part of something bigger than themselves has similarly instilled a sense of purpose in maintenance crews who Mann said are continuing to beat the odds and get ageing trains into service, day after day.

“We’ve had industrial action for 18 months now but the people in my organisation still feel engaged because we talked to them,” Mann says. “We’re open, we’re honest… it’s important to get people to come into work every day and to feel proud of what they do.”

SWR’s emphasis on improving the performance of its people is something the wider industry should take note of, particularly as it looks to combat the well-publicised skills and recruitment challenges that threaten to hold back much-needed progress in the coming years.

Industry leaders regularly refer to rail’s image problem as posing a challenge to its future sustainability. Yet too often it feels like the sector hides behind this perception rather than finding ways to overcome it. As SWR has shown, one way is to invest in and champion the talented people already working in the sector who are doing remarkable things to improve rail’s performance every day.

This is the idea driving our Young Rail Leaders Award. This year’s award feature profiles of 16 remarkable people working in a variety of roles across the global rail industry. Among our winners are Christoph Seffrin, a project director at Siemens Mobility, who has successfully led the ICE 3neo fleet project with German Rail (DB); Nicholas Dryer who has pioneered the use of drones at BNSF; Mehdi Gib, who is advancing the use of IoT technology to maintain ageing assets in Algeria; and Kateryna Izmailova, who has worked tirelessly to bring veterans back into the workforce at Ukrainian Railways.

Marleen van de Kerkhof also stands out as a Young Rail Leader who is tackling the recruitment challenge head on. Marleen is leading a group of young people working in the rail sector in the Netherlands. She also is an advocate for the wider adoption of the work of the European Staffer project, which is reforming rail’s relationship with European educational institutions to deliver training and instruction better suited to the needs of the modern railway.

Interestingly, Marleen chose to pursue a career in the rail industry due to its sustainability credentials. She cares about the future of the planet, and she is not alone among young people in wanting to make a difference.

This is something that should and could work to rail’s advantage when attempting to attract talent. How about launching a recruitment campaign that really spells out the important role that rail is playing, and will play, in decarbonising transport, and challenges talented young people to sign up?

Rather than hide behind the negatives and the excuses, it is time to be proactive and sell the industry as a place where ambitious and smart people can achieve great things. The experiences of our Young Rail Leaders certainly show the positive impact these people are having. SWR’s work also demonstrates what is possible when you invest in rail’s most important asset: its people.