A Heart for People
RSSB talks to Claire Mann, MD for South Western Railway
Claire Mann, Managing Director of South Western Railway (SWR), has an inspiring story.
In her words, from ‘a trained driver off the street’, without a rail background, she climbed to the top of the transport sector over her 26-year career.
Claire says that she learnt early on that ‘people in rail love what they do, and if you invest in them, they will deliver for you and the customers’. She’s since been convinced that our success depends on our people.
We caught up with her to find out more.
You’ve been in the transport sector for more than two decades. What have been some of the high points in your career?
I started in the industry in 1997, when Heathrow Express was first born. Operating between the airport and London Paddington, it was the biggest brand-new operation – and I was part of it! A trained driver ‘off the street’, without a background in rail, I got to see first-hand the business open and launch, overcome tests and trials, and become a success. I didn’t expect that when I was younger.
I worked for Silverlink Metro from 2006 and, again, I was lucky to be at the beginning of a new venture.
In 2007 its services were taken over by London Overground, and the result was like a butterfly flying out of a dark place. An underinvested, rundown railway underwent a seismic transformation, following much-needed investment in stations, trains, and staff. It became a very good operation.
While I can list many more highlights, I’ll end with two: the opening of the East London line as part of the Overground network in 2010, during which I was general manager, and, some years later, becoming TfL’s director of bus operations. The latter role saw me bring together operators to focus on the common issues: the health and wellbeing of our bus drivers and improving safety on our roads. I was proud and pleased to be on projects looking at these important matters and working with others towards a common purpose.
What did you expect when you started your first role in rail?
I was working at Brittany Ferries when the opportunity with Heathrow Express came up. At the time, I had no experience of rail at all, so I didn’t know what to expect. Heathrow Express was modern and slick—not like a typical railway. I feel I saw the real railway at Silverlink Metro, and I knew at that point that I was getting into something quite big. At Silverlink I quickly discovered that staff love what they do, and if you invest in them, they will deliver for you and the customers.
Last year you joined the RSSB Board as a non-exec director. What inspired this move?
Since its formation, RSSB’s work on safety and standards has provided a backbone for the industry. But how many rail CEOs and MDs are aware of this? I certainly wasn’t. I was distant from the organisation, leaving the experts in my team to connect with RSSB. There was more I could do to understand and champion RSSB, which fundamentally exists to support SWR and other rail organisations.
What are the biggest challenges facing the rail industry?
The affordability, efficiency, and accessibility of the industry needs to be tackled. We need to reform the way we run the railway, taking on archaic practices and systems. We’ve shied away from this, perhaps because it’ll feel like going through treacle. But there’s no time like now: this is the opportunity to come together as an industry and do the right thing by the taxpayer, the customer and our people. The challenge is how we work together across the industry in a competitive market.
SWR’s passenger numbers are 76% of pre-pandemic levels. Our customers have choices now, as do yours, so we need to be innovative and offer flexibility to encourage them to return to the railway. A collaborative effort is required here, which also includes working with Network Rail to ensure the infrastructure is sound. Staff health and wellbeing matter too, because we need a workforce that can, and wants to, do the work.
We all have our own plans, but with the investment needed to address these challenges as well as sustainability, we have to work together, otherwise we’re not going to get there.
How is SWR responding to these challenges?
We have relaunched our purpose and vision, focusing on how we bring people together to get the best out of life, for staff and customers alike. We want people passionate again about the importance of the railway and how important they are. Key to this is the health and wellbeing of our people. For SWR, as an example of the challenges, there have been four suicides in the past seven days, two at the same station. My team witnessed this. For the front line, it’s something they see and deal with regularly. So, the bottom line is that we must do the best for our people and support them.
Other areas of focus include working with Network Rail and operators in the southern region to improve the performance of the railway and ensure we’re running a reliable service. Then there’s our sustainability strategy which includes community and charity work, protecting biodiversity, apprenticeships, and reducing the carbon footprint of our stations. All the while, we promote rail as bringing people together for life and happiness.
What is rail’s biggest underappreciated strength?
Operational expertise and excellence. The industry is good at planning and delivering. We saw it with the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and then her funeral later in the year, and we’ll see it with the King’s coronation in May. We know how to pull out all the stops, write a plan, and deliver when it matters. The bright people coming into the industry through apprenticeships and graduate schemes bring good ideas and solutions, adding to the expertise.
What two pieces of advice would you give senior rail leaders to help their businesses thrive in the year ahead, or thinking beyond that, CP7?
First, look inside your business. People inside the business can see how we can thrive and get our customers back, and they’ll be the ones to take it forward. So don’t look outside. Instead, be better at people development. Second, don’t hold your cards so close to your chest. Lower your barriers so industry can come together more frequently around a common purpose.
Why do you describe the industry as the ‘railway family’?
Like any family, we have our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, we all want the same thing, to secure the future of rail because it benefits everyone. The thing that makes me get out of bed in the morning is seeing the smile on my people’s faces. People are critical to everything we do.
