Our people
Leadership Teams
President
Cathal Mangan
Cathal is a Fellow of RailEI, a Chartered Engineer and is currently the Chief Civil Engineer for Iarnród Éireann/Irish Rail , a role that encompasses full accountability for the Civil and Building Infrastructure of the national rail network of Ireland. His career in the rail industry commenced in 2000 where he has held a number of positions before commencing his current role as Chief Civil Engineer in 2021. He is also the designate Director, Infrastructure Manager for Iarnród Éireann/Irish Rail, a role he will take up in December 2026. He has a strong passion for Education and Innovation and is a strong proponent of both within the rail industry, and hence why he has chosen these themes for his term as President of the Railway Engineering Institution. He is committed to the ongoing development of the RailEI and in particular the potential for broader integration throughout for the betterment of knowledge sharing and growth, both within the RailEI itself and within the railway industry generally.
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Senior Leadership
Stephen Barber - Chief Executive Officer
Stephen is a Fellow of the Railway Engineering Institution, and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. He is committed to the development of the RailEI, and particularly to its role in harnessing railway systems engineering knowledge from industry and the academic world, and spreading that understanding widely through the Institution’s membership.
Garry Keenor - Deputy President
Garry is a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Fellow of the RailEI and experienced railway professional who has worked in the rail industry since 1991, specialising in all forms of rail electrification. He has acted as Professional Head for Electrification at AtkinsRéalis since 2023. Garry is a passionate advocate for railways as the most efficient and greenest form of transport, and argues for further electrification to embed that advantage. He believes that the RailEI is the natural home for everyone involved in railway engineering, and works to achieve that goal. He promotes electrification within the RailEI and helped to create and run the Practical Electrification Challenge. Garry is the author of the standard reference text “Overhead Line Electrification for Railways”, sold through the RailEI bookstore.
Ben Brooks - Deputy President
Ben is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Railway Engineering Institution, with more than two decades’ experience in rail since joining the industry in 2001. He has spent the past 15 years in senior project leadership roles within Network Rail and is currently Eastern Region Portfolio Delivery Director, leading a diverse portfolio of renewals and enhancement projects across multiple engineering disciplines. Actively involved with RailEI, he has chaired the Yorkshire Section committee since 2021 and served as Vice President for the North-East Region. He is committed to strengthening member support, broadening RailEI’s appeal and encouraging shared learning across the profession.
Chrisma Jain - Past President
Chrisma is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Railway Engineering Institution (RailEI), the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), and the Women’s Engineering Society (WES). She has over 20 years’ experience at London Underground, specialising in track renewals and with additional expertise in signalling. During her career, she delivered major renewal programmes and contributed to strategic initiatives that modernised and maintained the capital’s rail infrastructure.
She is now Head of Innovation at Network Rail High Speed, where she leads the development of automated inspection technologies for high-speed rail, driving improvements in safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Chrisma is passionate about advancing diversity and inclusion in engineering, promoting STEM to inspire the next generation, and championing innovation to build a more sustainable, future-ready railway.
Mona Sihota - Past President
Mona Sihota is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the ICE, Fellow of RailEI, and STEM Ambassador with over 33 years of experience in light and heavy rail design, construction, and asset management. For the past eight years, she has been Network Rail’s Professional Head for Drainage and Lineside and is accountable for the national vision, policy and strategies, standards, research, innovation, and competence framework for Off-Track. Mona is the drainage and lineside technical authority and regularly represents Network Rail with internal and external stakeholders.
Russell Jackson - Non- Executive Director
Russell is a civil engineer with over 30 years’ experience in rail, both in the UK and internationally. A Fellow of the ICE and RailEI since 2020, he has held senior leadership roles at Mott MacDonald, Atkins and AECOM, contributing to major projects including West Coast Modernisation, Birmingham New Street Gateway, Great Western Electrification, Waterloo Station and international schemes in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, California and New York. He is currently Chief Executive Interim, Global Transportation at AECOM. Russell is passionate about developing future railway engineers and brings global insight, business experience and a strong commitment to RailEI’s values and knowledge-based approach.
William Powrie - Non-Executive Director
William Powrie is a renowned geotechnical engineering professor at the University of Southampton. He specialises in applying soil mechanics principles to challenging soils and materials like landfilled waste, railway ballast, and strongly interlocked sands. His work involves collaborating with industry on significant civil engineering projects such as the Conwy and Medway immersed tube tunnels, Jubilee Line stations at Canary Wharf and Canada Water, and HS1. He also chairs HS2’s Independent Geotechnical Expert Panel and is known for his founding contributions to Environmental and Transportation Geotechnics. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2009 and currently convenes the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities and leads the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network Infrastructure Centre of Excellence.
Michael Black- Non-Executive Director
Michael is Route Finance Director at Network Rail, responsible for West Coast South Route within the North West and Central Region, and has spent most of his career in rail. Having also previously been the Finance Director for Network Rail’s supply chain operations function, and latterly taking operational responsibility for much of the function, he has seen many different perspectives of the industry. He started as a trainee accountant at Railtrack and worked through various financial and commercial roles through his career at Network Rail.
Michelle Nolan-McSweeney - Non-Executive Director
Michelle started her railway career as a British Rail Youth Training Scheme trainee in August 1986 and has remained in the rail industry ever since. Her significant experience within the sector, including as Head of Corporate Assurance and Accident Investigation, Head of Training Strategy, and as Programme Director for Putting Passengers First in the Wales & Western Region, has resulted in a number of opportunities to share her enthusiasm for all things ‘people’ related. She has been the Chair of the Transport & Logistics Panel for the Institute for Apprenticeships and supported a number of training and education boards.
Technical
Brian Counter - Technical Director
Brian was appointed Technical Director of the RailEI in 2013 after completing 34 years’ experience in Railways starting with British Rail. He has held many senior posts in the public and private sector including Regional Director (Midland) for Balfour Beatty Rail Maintenance and Engineering Adviser to the UK Government Rail Regulator. He has academic experience and holds a PhD in Railways and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of RailEI, ICE and HEA. He is committed to professional registration for all railways through training and modern all level apprenticeships.
Joan Heery - Technical Services Director
Joan is a Chartered Engineer with the ICE and a Fellow of both the RailEI and ICE. She is honoured to be part of this learned society which seeks to improve knowledge, standards and professionalism throughout industry. One of her core values is around continued life long learning which sits at the heart of this Institution.
John Merriman - Technical Manager
Joss Apps - Technical Manager
Joss is a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years of experience in the rail industry. He has acquired extensive knowledge and expertise in various areas, including safety, regulation, design, and standards development. Joss has a reliable background in the fundamental requirements of railway infrastructure and expert domain knowledge in vital areas such as safety, assurance, regulation, research, innovation, design, and standards development.
Membership and Operations
Kate Hatwell - Operations Director
Kate is passionate about ensuring the RailEI meets and exceeds the needs and expectations of its members and the wider industry. She is committed to working with the team to deliver substantial growth and to drive the Insitution forward into a prominent and highly valued role serving the railway industry.
Sara Green - Membership Secretary
Sara is committed to delivering a first class customer service to our members and sections. She has a wealth of experience in customer relations having spent 14 years leading and managing a team of up to 50 staff within high profile retail stores. Sara understands the importance of meeting and exceeding customer expectations and will always undertake to help.
Helen Rowe - Events Manager
Helen is dedicated to managing the planning, coordination, and execution of various internal and external events, collaborating with the wider team to ensure seamless delivery and exceptional attendee experiences. With over 15 years of experience in hospitality and customer service, she brings a dynamic, results-driven approach to event management. Helen understands the significance of a successful event and consistently goes above and beyond to enhance RailEI’s reputation for outstanding quality and service.
Liam Winterflood - Education and Accounts Executive
Marketing and Communications
Jade Dover - Marketing Manager
Jade is a passionate marketeer with over a decade of experience growing brands and improving customers’ digital experience. She grew up in a household where her father worked on the railway, and still does 40 years later. Jade is now combining her marketing skills and passion for the railway, to grow awareness of the great work the RailEI does!
Chevernee Steers - Communications Executive
Chevernee is a highly enthusiastic marketer with a primary objective of enhancing awareness of the RailEI and elevating the member experience. She is dedicated to amplifying RailEI’s communications across social media, email campaigns, and the quarterly Journal, ensuring the organisation’s message resonates effectively.
Isiah McClymont - Digital Marketing Executive
Isiah is a marketer who exhibits excellent enthusiasm for his work. With a strong focus on leveraging digital channels to enhance brand awareness and engagement, Isiah is committed to elevating our members’ experience and refining our digital offerings through our website and various other digital platforms.
Ali Fredericks - Journal Editor
Ali Fredericks is a freelance graphic designer with over 25 years’ experience, supporting the RailEI with clear, consistent, and creative visual storytelling. Passionate about design that connects, informs, and inspires, she helps ensure the RailEI’s message leaves a lasting impression.
Professional Registration
Elizabeth Turner - Registration Manager
Liz has been with RailEI since January 2019 as the Registration Manager and deals with all aspects of Professional Registration – from processing the applications to the governance of the procedures. Impressed by the applicants’ commitment to professionalism and of the volunteers who make peer assessment possible, Liz enjoys playing a small part in each member’s story.
Charlotte Boyce - Registration Executive
Charlotte has held the position of Registration Executive at the RailEI since 2020. She assists in all aspects of Professional Registration, including processing applications and overseeing governance procedures.
Paul Ebbutt - Professional Development Officer (South)
Paul is a retired railway civil engineer with 40 years’ experience constructing and maintaining railways in London with TfL. He has been a RailEI member since 1978 and a Fellow since January 2017. Paul is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) Fellow of ICE; Member of I.Struct.E. and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT). Paul is passionate about the development of others in the rail and construction industry and keen to support all to achieve Professional Registration. As a professional development officer for the RailEI, Paul is keen to advise and help members on the options for Professional Registration with the RailEI.
Brian Parkinson - Professional Development Officer (North)
Brian is a Fellow of the RailEI and the Institution of Civil Engineers. He is the RailEI Development Officer (North) and is a member of the Membership, Academic and Development Panels. He is keen to help all Rail Infrastructure Engineers achieve their potential and enjoy the camaraderie of the RailEI.
Technical Education
Molly Dalton - Head of Technical Education
Molly Dalton is a Civil Engineer with experience across Track and Civils schemes in a design and construction capacity. She has an MEng in Civil Engineering, and a PGCE in 14+ education, and is responsible for course quality and validation. She is passionate about Diversity and Inclusion, and has led many initiatives in this area in her career. She is an advocate for life-long learning within our industry and has particular interest in Environmental Sustainability and Railway History.
David Ratledge - Lecturer
David is a Chartered Permanent Way Engineer and a Fellow of RailEI. With 56 years of experience in the UK and worldwide he is committed to improving permanent way skills and competency in both existing and future generations of track Engineers. He also actively supports the Railei and industry Engineers in their progression towards Professional Registration.
Roy Hickman - Lecturer
Roy is a Fellow of the RailEI, and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers having joined British Rail in 1974 at the Divisional Civil Engineers’ Crewe office. Roy has held may positions through the transition from BR to Centrac at Privatisation then Railtrack and finally Network Rail before retiring in 2018 when he joined Fugro RailData on a part time basis. Roy joined the RailEI in 1978 and has supported the Institution in many capacities over the years. He is currently the VP for England and assists in the development and delivery of training packages as well as assessing candidates for professional accreditation.
Neil Denton - Lecturer
Neil has been delivering S&C presentations for the RailEI for a number of years, his railway career began in 1974 at Taylor Brothers at Sandiacre, this company went on to be Thomas W Wards, Rio Tinto, Henry Boot, Balfour Beatty now Progress Rail. Within this period he worked in America assisting Amtrak to introduce Swing Nose Crossings plus involvement in numerous S&C designs worldwide. He joined maintenance in 2000 as a PTO, in 2009 he joined the NR national S&C team in 2010 he was Railway Engineer of the year plus two further engineering awards 2011 & 2015. He is currently using his 46years of experience supporting all aspects of railway as an S&C consultant.
Bob Langford FRailEI - Lecturer
Bob is a Fellow of the RailEI, which he joined in 1979 and is a Chartered Civil Engineer (CEng) and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics & Transport (MCILT).
He joined British Rail as a Graduate Trainee in 1977 and has worked for Railtrack, Network Rail and private consultants since then until retirement 4 years ago. He has extensive experience in the fields of track design, construction, supervision and project management with his latter career focused on interdisciplinary design management.
Mike McLoughlin FRailEI - Lecturer
Mike joined the RailEI early in his career with the BR Research Division to learn about track design and engineering, an important part of his role in derailment investigations and research projects. A Fellow of the RailEI, Mike lectures on derailment investigation for the RailEI Track Engineering courses drawing on his investigations, training, and consultancy on railways in the UK, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil.
Ben Haines MRailEI - Lecturer
Ben brings nearly two decades of experience within the rail industry, specialising in Permanent Way and safety-critical systems. Alongside his work through Biscuit Consultancy, he is passionate about developing competence, mentoring engineers, and delivering engaging technical training that supports both professional growth and operational excellence. Ben combines strong industry knowledge with a practical approach to learning, helping to make complex engineering concepts accessible and applicable to real-world railway environments.
Vice Presidents
Tony Morgani - Vice President Central England
Tony “stumbled” into his rail career when his father helped him get an interview with Carillion at age 18. After 6 months as a Trackman, Network Rail was formed and Tony spent the next 6 years working his way up to Ganger, in charge of a team carrying out p-way maintenance and renewals. Rail engineering became his passion and in 2011, when works delivery were formed by Network Rail to deliver small renewal projects, Tony became Works Delivery Manager for West Midlands. At 27, he graduated from the Network Rail Leadership Programme. He later joined Murphy Group (JMS) as Senior Engineer, progressing to Engineering Manager, where today he covers the whole country for all civil engineering works for railway. Tony not only endorses RailEI Professional Registration, having achieved that milestone in 2017, he now mentors others to do the same. Tony was recognised as the RailEI Star of the Year winning the inaugural BARBRO Award in 2022, against some stiff competition.
Rob Cummings - Vice President North West England & North Wales
Rob has 25 years of experience in the rail industry, starting with Railtrack/Network Rail in project management roles, and since 2015, leading seasonal resilience challenges with Northern Trains. He has been actively involved with the RailEI since the early 2000s, serving as Manchester & Liverpool Section Secretary for nearly 15 years and contributing to technical seminars and publications. As a member of the Adhesion Research Group, he collaborates with universities on research projects and aim to strengthen ties with academic institutions in the North West as North West Vice President.
Jonathan Lowe - Vice President Scotland & Bengaluru (India)
Jonathan is a Chartered Engineer and has worked in the rail industry since graduating from university in 1998. He currently works for Network Rail as the Project Manager Engineering for Works Delivery Track, supporting Scotland’s Railway. Throughout his career, he has held a wide range of roles spanning civil design, track design, project engineering, maintenance, logistics, and now engineering management. In this role he works closely with the two Sections in Scotland to support their development and represent their interests at a national level.
Darren Sharp - Vice President South Central England
Darren is a Fellow of the RailEI, a Chartered Engineer for the ICE and RailEI. Darren’s career began in 1990 at British Rail in Reading then moving on to the Regional Engineer Office in Swindon before crossing tracks to London Underground. Darren’s experience branches from track renewals, design, maintenance and new track technology with particular attention to S&C. In 2014 Darren won the presidents award for a journal paper and has continued to assist the Railei in Professional Registration reviews and presentations. Over the last 5 years Darren has been consulting for Network Rail, Balfour Beatty and New York City Transit.
Anup Chalisey - Vice President South Central England
Anup is a Fellow of the IMechE and Member of the RailEI. His career began at Metronet (now TfL) in 2003 as a graduate and has covered maintenance, installation, surveying and handback along with a wide range of topics, such as gauging, wheel/rail interface, platform train interface, adhesion and accessibility. Anup’s current role is the Professional Head of Infrastructure at RSSB and chairs the Infrastructure Standards Committee. He is passionate about raising awareness of the role of standards and its application to ensure better understanding of requirements.
Jonathan Bray - Vice President South East England
Jonathan is a Fellow of both the RailEI and the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Member of the Institute of Asset Management. He is a lifelong advocate of utilising new technology and asset management principles for improving the delivery and effectiveness of track maintenance in particular. He is also committed to the continual development of our workforce at all levels of the profession.
James Hepburn - Vice President South West England & South Wales
James is a Chartered Engineer with the RailEI and has enjoyed being a Member since the start of his railway career. With over 20 years of experience in the railway industry, he has been actively involved with his local Section, gaining much from hearing about different aspects of the industry beyond his day job and benefiting from networking opportunities. Most of James’ career has been spent in track maintenance with his work focusing on the introduction of new maintenance tools and practices to meet the evolving challenges of the 21st century railway. James is keen to support the RailEI’s mission of knowledge-sharing across the industry and to support colleagues in their professional development.
Karim El Laham - Vice President for Continental Europe
Karim is a Rail Asset Management and Digital Transformation Consultant at Haskoning, working at the intersection of railway engineering, data, and AI. With an MSc and EngD from TU Delft, he helps railway organisations make better decisions on maintenance, asset management, and whole-life planning.
Before Haskoning, Karim worked at Fugro on railway geo-data, connecting above- and below-track insights. During his EngD, he developed Smart Sectioning, a predictive-maintenance approach that led to two patents and a ProRail-tested proof of concept. His related Rail Engineering International article received both the Journal Silver Award and Young Achiever Award. More recently, he has worked on methods to assess weld health and detect hanging sleepers within ProRail’s Asset Health Centre.
Jamie Kelly - Vice President for Great Britain
Jamie Kelly is a third generation Railway Engineer, a specialist in Light Rail Construction, Renewal and Maintenance activities. Starting his career with Grant Lyon Eagre in 1990, Jamie has gained valuable railway engineering experience on a wide variety of railway projects ranging from High-Speed, Heavy and Light Rail systems. Jamie currently manages Volker Rail’s Light Rail and Metro programmes on a national basis with a particular interest in developing new technologies and enhancing the sector’s presence within the wider Railway community. With a keen interest in developing young engineers, Jamie is enthusiastic in advancing the next generation of Railway Engineers and professionals whilst supporting the continued growth of the RailEI in the global railway industry.