Chair of the Young Rail Professionals (YRP), Bonnie Price, looks back on a very successful 12 months and gives us a taste of what’s in store for the next year.
As we come to the end of the fiscal year, YRP has gone through its national and regional election process. A huge thank you goes to our outgoing chairs office Simon Kendler (National Vice-Chair 23/24) and Martin Halligan (National Treasurer 23/24).
We also thank our outgoing regional chairs: Agata Wesek (London chair); James Bennett (Wales chair); and Ewan McDermott (Western chair), who are all now handing over to their successors.
Nationally, in the incoming chairs office we have Bonnie Price taking on a second year as national chairwoman (the first woman to ever do so); Agata Wesek stepping up into the role of national vice-chair; Conor O’Donnell becomes national treasurer; and Neal Dodge takes on a second year as secretary.
Introducing herself, incoming vice-chairwoman Agata says: “I’ve been in the railway industry for almost five years now and I currently work for Network Rail (High Speed) where I am a change project manager leading on organisational change projects within the infrastructure maintenance teams. I joined YRP during the height of the Covid pandemic to connect with like-minded individuals and volunteered in various regional roles. I’ve recently had the honour to be elected as the national vice-chair.”
Conor O’Donnell adds: “I am YRP’s incoming national treasurer for the 24/25 Financial Year. In my day job I am an engineering consultant at AtkinsRéalis where I have been since 2019, and I have been fortunate enough to work on several industry-leading projects such as the East Coast Digital Programme and HS2.”
Night to remember
Moving on, we had hundreds of award nominations for our annual dinner and awards which was held on 14 March at the historic east London venue The Troxy. Our national chairperson has previously been quoted as stating that “judging was agonising” and that was certainly true this year. With over 270 nominations, it was no small feat to filter through, long list, short list, pick finalists, and choose a winner.
Asher Thomas was named Young Rail Professional of the year, Mohammed Al-Sharif was named Mentor of the Year, with Simens and Tilt winning employer of the year and SME employer of the year, respectively.
David Horne, managing director at LNER, was a guest speaker at the awards. He said: “The work that YRP does in terms of professional networking, development, and providing a forum in which you can get people across every bit of the railway industry together to share knowledge, is wonderful. Full credit to the team who put all this together on the back of their day jobs.”
During his speech as headline sponsor, Steve Mole, managing partner of CPC Project Services commented: “It is essential we recognise people across the rail industry, that are a force for good.”
This was CPC’s twelfth year as a headline sponsor, underlining the commitment the company makes to young people within the industry.
It was most uplifting is to see the wealth of railway talent currently joining the industry. We look forward to seeing the impact that they will no doubt have on the industry in these turbulent times.
A year of growth
It is all change at YRP with the constitution being updated to reflect the organisation’s growth. We are adjusting job titles to match the legal implications at a national level, with all national job titles changing from chairs office to c-suite.
It has been such a year of growth for YRP. We have come a long way from being a London-only committee since we started 15 years ago. In the last 12 months alone, we have increased our individual membership by 32.1%, the biggest increase in YRP history. Over 24% of our membership is made up of women, far outperforming efforts elsewhere within the rail industry. It is a trend we hope to continue and replicate with other protected characteristics.
Other successes over the past 12 months include the relaunch of YRP’s North West branch, our busiest Rail Week programme with 32 events across the UK, and our first Santa Express Train which entertained 180 children either living in residential care homes or with life-limiting disabilities. The Into Rail programme was our busiest and most successful yet, with 10 schools and careers fair visits, and our heritage programme delivered more than 1,000 hours of volunteer time on the UK’s heritage railways – another record set.
Looking to the next 12 months, our plans of consolidating and expanding continue as we branch into Ireland to support young people within the Irish rail industry. There is so much exciting news coming from the emerald isle and we are extremely excited about the next year. We hope you will be with us at every stop along the way.
As ever, it is free for individuals to join YRP. If you would like to discuss working together, please take a look at our website www.youngrailpro.com.
We hope to see you at our events in the future!
Image credit: YRP
