The Institution of Railway Operators (IRO) was launched in May 2000 to develop and promote the safe, reliable and efficient operation of the railways – heavy rail, metro, light rail and heritage rail operations – and to ensure the institution acts as the custodian of best practice in railway operational management.
Our association identifies with all nominees for the Rail Manager of the Year award and is totally committed to the industry-wide objective of better leadership.
We are able to offer our members distance-learning courses at Glasgow Caledonian University, leading to certificate, diploma and degree-level BSc qualifications.
As well as these programmes, the IRO runs a range of short courses including a 1 day Introduction to the Rail Industry, 2.5 day Operational Planning and a 5 day Operational Principles programme.
Strong foundations
During 2012 the IRO continued to build on the strong foundations created by the area councils and its tutor body. We consulted our membership more widely and through their efforts we developed a series of new and refreshed tools for the professional operator.
These include: the POD – the Professional Operators Development framework; it also produced its first book, the Operators Handbook; a member’s on line continuing professional development planner and tracker and a refreshed mentoring programme.
New corporate members joined us, keen for their employees to access the development tools and area learning events. As a result we experienced a sizeable growth in membership. The launch of an ambitious education programme by Transnet Freight Rail in South Africa, using the IRO’s intellectual property also helped to boost membership further.
Our membership is open to anyone working in, or associated with, any part of the railway industry worldwide. For full details of how to become a member of the IRO, its benefits and all of its courses and events can be found on our website www.railwayoperators.co.uk
The IRO is sponsoring the Rail Manager of the Year award at the RailStaff Awards. Fiona Tordoff, chief executive of the IRO said, ‘The
IRO exists to create opportunities for all operators to achieve more for themselves and their profession through learning, networking and aspiring to be the best.
‘The achievement of winning the Rail Manager of the Year award is a great endorsement for an outstanding manager who is a true professional, who shows outstanding leadership skills and goes beyond for their team. In this our second year of sponsorship we are delighted to be part of this success.’
