Interview
Part 1: Who is Christian Irwin OBE?
Behind every challenge are individuals who believe in the possibilities. RSSB chatted with one such person, whose passion, determination and performance landed him a key role in Network Rail’s drive for a more efficient rail industry.
Christian Irwin OBERail Investment Centre of Excellence Director Network Rail
Christian Irwin OBE was appointed Director of Network Rail’s Rail Investment Centre of Excellence in Mach 2022 after 13 successful years with the organisation. He’s recognised several things in his career so far, including that he’s passionate about the delivery of sustainable transportation systems to connect people and enhance communities. We caught up with him to find out more about how his experience in industry, coupled with his passion, have made him a key player in Network Rail’s drive to save time and money.
Get to know…Christian
Alumnus of the University of Sheffield
Majored in economics and human geography
First ‘proper job’ was planning officer for Bristol City Council
Passionate about the delivery of sustainable transportation systems
14-year career with Network Rail, so far
Landed his first director role in 2016, age 30
Convinced the industry can do more to save time and money
Awarded an OBE for his services to the rail industry in June 2022
Take us back to the beginning of your career; how did it start?
I did a degree in economics and human geography at the University of Sheffield, being passionate about the delivery of sustainable transportation systems. I loved thinking about transport integration, how you get people from A to B, and the economic benefits that transportation can provide if you do it well.
After graduating I landed a role as a transport planning officer for Bristol City Council. My core responsibilities were looking at traffic and cycle flows around Bristol and supporting the council in its transportation and congestion-reduction investments. I did that for about a year and had a brilliant time.
During my time there we worked with Network Rail on reopening one of the former branch railway lines. I saw, close up, the major programmes Network Rail was delivering and the opportunities they could bring. It excited me!
Why did you move on from Bristol City Council?
As much as I was enjoying my role there, Network Rail’s advertisement of its project management graduate scheme made me reconsider. I saw this as an opportunity to combine two interests: delivering transportation projects and project management. So, I joined Network Rail in 2009 as a project management graduate.
In that interesting and intriguing first year, I got exposure to the different elements necessary to deliver a transportation project well—planning, safety, procurement, commercial, project lifecycle, engineering.
What happened after you completed the graduate scheme?
It was 2010 and I got my first job as a scheme project manager, tasked with delivering a signalling project between Salisbury and Exeter. It was one of the first projects that sought to engender change at Network Rail; we wanted to accelerate the speed at which we delivered projects.
I remember how unrealistic the project was. The sentiment was that it’d never happen, that it was just too ambitious. The consensus was that we couldn’t afford it, the budget was too low, and the timescales were too short. But I was asked to look after it nonetheless.
Gee, I think I was only 24 at the time. But I thought, this is my chance; I’m going to figure out if it can be done. And lo and behold, during the next two years, we delivered the project within the budget and timeframe.
What an accomplishment! Did it help to accelerate your career?
The project was an amazing learning journey. It deepened my understanding of how to deliver projects and expanded my knowledge of railway systems. It also raised my profile. I won the Association of Project Manager’s Young Project Manager of the Year award soon after in 2012.
My career progressed quite quickly thereafter. The next eight years saw me progress through the project management hierarchy through to programme director, delivering bigger, more complex projects and programmes, and then portfolios. Among them have been influential projects that make a big difference to people and places, and it’s been a privilege to manage these.
Now that you have more than 10 years with Network Rail, what’s kept you motivated?
We spend £6bn a year delivering infrastructure and investment projects. The opportunities to make a positive difference to people’s lives are huge—and that’s what’s kept me motivated. I delivered the signalling and communications for Crossrail West. I think we’d agree that the Elizabeth line, now the UK’s busiest railway, has transformed connectivity across London.
I also looked after rail in Wales for several years, re-signalling, relaying track, and remodelling. This involved building new platforms and transforming the timetable of Wales, which meant we could increase the passenger services from the Valleys into Cardiff. The result? Connecting people and providing better access to jobs and education.
Tell us more about your heart for connecting people and improving communities.
I spent nearly 11 years in the project management/project delivery side of the business, and I was conscious that my heart was for improving communities and connecting people. So we decided in Wales and Western in 2019-2020 to create a new industry programme director role to focus on the five strategic regions of Wales and Western, areas that are important and need strong leadership. I went into the South-West region of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, to provide leadership, own relationships, and build strong working partnerships with the local authorities, local enterprise partnerships, strategic local transport bodies, and MPs.
I worked closely with these stakeholders to understand their needs for a transportation system. I worked closely with rail companies to ensure we were aligned. During my two years as industry programme director, we did a wonderful job. We developed a rail investment strategy that included the needs of a housing strategy and a local transportation plan, and we prioritised and sequenced investment stages to achieve that. We then thought about how we secure and combine investment, all to improve communities and connect people.
What have been some of the tangible results of this collaborative effort?
One of our first priorities was to connect North-West Devon, an isolated part of the country, with the wider region. We saw an opportunity to reopen the Dartmoor Line within eight months and for just over £40m. Seven months and 28 days after we received the funding, we reopened the line. Almost 280,000 passengers travelled on the line in its first year. Another similar success story is Marsh Barton station, which opened the week commencing Monday 3 July 2023.
How have such projects reinforced Network Rail’s drive to achieve time and cost efficiencies?
In many ways, the Dartmoor Line and Marsh Barton station are part of our national mindset change. We want to invest in rail differently, do things quicker and cheaper, and become focused on the outcomes. For years, Network Rail has focused on infrastructure, and we’ve struggled to think about outcomes—the ‘why are we building this?’. We’re trying to flip how we invest on its head, with outcome-led specifications. In doing so, we can start to think about the minimum amount of investment (minimum viable product) needed to safely deliver projects, which gets projects off the ground much quicker.
This mindset change is driven by our SPEED principles, the principles that I’m living and breathing, and that we as an organisation are trying migrate to.
I was appointed Director of our national Rail Investment Centre of Excellence in 2022, which amongst many other priorities is to embed this within our five regions, in a similar way to that delivered in the South-West. We’re building a new strategic narrative and a different approach to rail investment to enhance communities more efficiently. We can make a significant difference if we do things right.
Look out for the second part of our interview with Christian in the September issue of Horizon, where he explains why post-Covid Britain needs a rail industry with a different mindset.
