The ARA’s General Manager – Supply Chain and Diversity, Natalie Currey, met with Perth-based members this week, including Hitachi, Speno, PTA WA and JHG, to discuss current projects and areas of focus and how the ARA can best support their objectives. 

The Young Leaders Advisory Board (Y-LAB) also held its second quarter meeting in Perth this week to progress its agenda, including focusing on the roll out of the pilot ambassadors program to further complement the Work in Rail campaign and raise awareness of career opportunities in the rail industry and pathways of entry.  The meeting was also the final quarterly face-to-face meeting for four of the outgoing Y-LAB and two Y-LAB reserve members. The ARA would like to express our appreciation of their significant contributions over the past two years.  

Several site visits were also conducted to gain insights into the capabilities of rail organisation, major rail projects and patronage growth, and to better understand the rail pipeline, and challenges and opportunities in the Western Australian rail market. 

Sandesh Koyande (Winner – Australasian Rail Industry Awards 2022 – ‘Signalling and Systems Engineering Excellence’ and John Holland ‘Employee of the Year 2022’) and Amar Singh provided a tour of the JHG’s state-of-the-art signalling testing lab which allows the simulation of digital systems in a controlled environment to de-risk projects and reduce downtime and costs of project commissioning. JHG also demonstrated their partnership with local fibre optic manufacturers AFL.

Y-LAB also visited JHG’s Plants and Services site at Welshpool which services clients in the Pilbara. JHG Plant and services site supports maintenance contracts with BHP, Rio Tinto, Arc infrastructure and PTA WA.  

Graham Holden, Mike Idoine and Simon Timpano from NEWest Alliance facilitated a tour of three new station builds and track work as part of the Yanchep rail extension of the new Metronet line beyond Butler station that will service the increasing urban sprawl north of Perth. 

Y-LAB also connected with young rail professionals while in Perth at an informal networking event to improve connections, share updates and seek feedback.