Rail Supply Chain Forum | November 10th 2026 London United Kingdom
Operating Railways Through Complex Supplier Ecosystems
An executive leadership forum examining supplier assurance, asset management, operational readiness, systems integration, procurement and infrastructure delivery across modern railway environments.
Presented by the team behind the Rail Cybersecurity Summit, serving the rail sector since 2013.
Rail Supply Chain Forum is a senior-level industry event focused on operational resilience, supplier collaboration, lifecycle asset management, procurement, engineering, maintenance, and risk across modern railway environments. The forum brings together rail operators, infrastructure managers, OEMs, suppliers, contractors, and technology leaders responsible for delivering, maintaining, and supporting long-life rail systems.
As rail networks become increasingly connected, software-driven, and operationally complex, organisations face growing pressure around supplier assurance, component lifecycle management, infrastructure modernisation, resilience, standards implementation, and operational continuity. The Rail Supply Chain Forum provides a practical, operator-led environment to examine these challenges through real-world discussion, cross-sector insight, and collaborative industry engagement.
Topics include supply chain transparency, asset reliability, maintenance strategy, engineering coordination, procurement alignment, operational risk, supplier integration, infrastructure resilience, and the long-term management of delivered rail systems and services.
Speakers
Confirmed speakers and contributors include senior leaders from Network Rail, Anglia Railway, East West Rail, DfT Operator Limited, Jacobs and Arcadis. Further announcements will follow.
To be considered contact jamison@operationalriskcouncil.com
Network Rail
Major Investments & Capital Transformation Director
Robert Cairns
Anglia Railway
Strategy and Change Director
Natalie Allen
Network Rail | East West Rail
Kayleigh Spires
Major Programme Director
Porterbrook (Subject to final confirmation)
Andy Bagguley
Fleet Service Director
DfT Operator Limited (DFTO)
Laura Heath
Integration Lead
Jacobs
Ivan Lucic
Senior Director of Integrated Systems & Global Principal – Systems thinking and Assurance
Arcadis
Bryony Goldsmith
Senior Programme Director
Jacobs
Sam El-Jouzi
Global Principal, High Speed Rail
Agenda
Operating Railways Through Complex Supplier Ecosystems
Senior Leadership Forum · Tuesday 10 November 2026 · London, United Kingdom
A senior-level forum examining how rail organisations can improve integration, operational readiness, supplier collaboration, accountability, assurance and resilience across increasingly interconnected delivery, maintenance, infrastructure and technology ecosystems.
Registration, Coffee & Networking
Opening Leadership Perspective
Operating Railways Through Complex Supplier Ecosystems
Modern rail operations depend on increasingly interconnected suppliers, maintainers, integrators, infrastructure partners, technology providers and long-term delivery chains. This opening perspective sets the context for the day: how can rail organisations improve visibility, coordination, accountability and resilience while maintaining focus on passenger, operational and whole-system outcomes?
Leadership Insight
From Ambition to Delivery: Building the Organisational Maturity to Deliver Complex Rail Programmes
Sam El-Jouzi · Major Programmes Delivery Director and Global Principal High Speed Rail · Jacobs
Major rail programmes depend not only on capable suppliers, but on client organisations with the maturity, capability and capacity to lead delivery effectively.
- What organisational readiness looks like before major delivery begins
- Assessing programme and engineering-management maturity
- Identifying and closing capability and capacity gaps
- Preparing organisations for contract award, mobilisation and delivery
- Strengthening governance, decision rights and escalation routes
- Managing embedded delivery partners while retaining client ownership and control
Leadership Insight
The Client’s Role in an Integrated Railway: Duties, Accountability and Whole-System Decisions
Kayleigh Spires · Major Programme Director, East West Railway Company / Network Rail
Drawing on experience across East West Rail, HS2, Network Rail and Crossrail, this session explores the role of the client in complex rail programmes and the duties and accountabilities it must retain when delivery responsibility is distributed across multiple organisations.
- What the client is there to do and what it must continue to own
- Defining the intended railway, system and service-level outcomes
- Bringing separate infrastructure and delivery organisations together around a shared objective
- Identifying where the real constraints sit across the wider system
- Understanding the implications of infrastructure decisions for future services and operations
- Maintaining clear accountability where responsibility is shared but integration is limited
- Ensuring individual programmes do not succeed in isolation while the overall railway outcome is compromised
Leadership Insight
Track, Train and Operator Integration: Turning Reform into Operational Reality
Laura Heath · Integration Lead, DfT Operator Limited
As the railway moves towards a more integrated model, the relationship between infrastructure, train operations, delivery organisations and suppliers will need to work differently in practice.
- What effective track-and-train integration looks like in operational terms
- How organisations can reduce friction at interfaces between infrastructure and operators
- What needs to change in decision-making, accountability and delivery coordination
- How the supply chain can better support a more integrated railway
Leadership Insight
Building the Integrated Railway: Strategy, Change and Organisational Readiness
Natalie Allen · Strategy and Change Director, Anglia Railway
Rail reform is not only a structural or commercial change. It requires organisations, leaders and delivery partners to develop new ways of working, clearer shared priorities and the capability to operate effectively across traditional boundaries.
- Preparing organisations for a more integrated operating environment
- Creating alignment between strategy, change activity and day-to-day delivery
- Building the behaviours, capability and leadership needed for lasting change
- Ensuring suppliers and partners are included in the journey, not brought in late
Coffee & Networking
Rail Leadership Roundtables I
Building Better Alignment Across Complex Rail Ecosystems. Delegates join one facilitated peer discussion examining current delivery barriers, practical experience and lessons from across the railway.
Turning Reform into an Integrated Railway
Translating rail reform, organisational change and integrated working into practical delivery across infrastructure, train operations, suppliers and delivery organisations.
Jointly facilitated by Laura Heath and Natalie Allen
Supply Chain Visibility, Commercial Alignment and Supplier Performance
Creating earlier visibility of priorities, programme pipelines, dependencies, risks and capability requirements while aligning commercial arrangements and supplier performance with reliable operational outcomes.
Facilitator to be announced
Major Programme Integration and Interface Management
Improving coordination across client organisations, delivery partners, suppliers, disciplines and operational stakeholders while managing complex programme and system interfaces.
Facilitated by Bryony Goldsmith
Engineering Assurance Across Supplier-Delivered Systems
Maintaining technical governance, interface assurance, accountability and engineering confidence where systems, assets and operational interfaces are delivered by multiple organisations.
Facilitated by Ivan Lucic
Asset Reliability, Obsolescence and Whole-Life Fleet Performance
Examining obsolescence, component availability, ageing-fleet capability, future upgrade requirements, single-source dependencies and shared responsibility for whole-life performance.
Facilitated by Andy Bagguley · Subject to final confirmation
Roundtable Report Back
Key Findings from Rail Leadership Roundtables I
Facilitators share the principal challenges, practical lessons and recommendations emerging from each discussion.
Leadership Insight
Integrating Major Rail Programmes Across Complex Delivery Ecosystems
Bryony Goldsmith · Senior Programme Director, Arcadis
A senior programme-delivery perspective on coordinating clients, delivery partners, suppliers and specialist disciplines across major rail programmes with complex interfaces.
- Creating alignment across multiple delivery organisations
- Managing programme, system and organisational interfaces
- Improving visibility of dependencies, constraints and decision points
- Maintaining accountability while delivery responsibility is distributed
- Connecting programme delivery decisions to operational outcomes
Networking Lunch
Leadership Insight
From Vision to Delivery: Bringing the Rail Supply Chain Up to Speed
Robert Cairns · Major Investments & Capital Transformation Director, Network Rail
The rail sector has a clear strategic vision. However, many organisations across the supply chain do not yet have sufficient visibility of the strategy beneath that vision, the journey ahead, the practical implications or the actions expected of them.
- Where the railway is trying to get to, and why
- What the journey towards that future railway may look like
- Where the sector currently stands in terms of readiness and understanding
- Why the supply chain needs clearer visibility of the strategy beneath the vision
- The next steps needed to create greater alignment, confidence and delivery readiness
Leadership Insight
Fleet Performance, Supplier Integration and Operational Readiness
Andy Bagguley · Porterbrook
Subject to final confirmationA senior fleet and asset-management perspective on the practical conditions required to maintain performance across a complex delivery environment.
- The interfaces that influence fleet reliability and availability
- Clear responsibilities across asset owners, operators, maintainers and suppliers
- Coordination during fleet introduction, refurbishment, modification and transition into service
- Using performance information and operational feedback to support maintenance and investment decisions
- Managing supplier dependencies affecting operational readiness and fleet performance
- Balancing immediate operational pressures with long-term fleet requirements
Leadership Insight
Progressive Assurance for Complex Rail Programmes: Integrating Systems, Suppliers and Delivery Decisions
Ivan Lucic · Senior Director of Integrated Systems & Global Principal – Systems Thinking and Assurance, Jacobs
A systems-thinking and assurance perspective on integrating engineering, operational, safety and delivery evidence across complex programmes and supplier-delivered systems.
- Applying systems thinking across complex rail programmes
- Creating progressive assurance rather than leaving assurance to programme gateways
- Maintaining visibility of interfaces between clients, delivery partners and suppliers
- Using risk-based assurance to support timely decisions without slowing delivery
- Identifying integration and assurance gaps early enough for programmes to act
Coffee & Networking
Rail Leadership Roundtables II
Practical Priorities for the Future Railway. Delegates join a second facilitated discussion focused on practical actions, future operating requirements and areas requiring greater industry collaboration.
From Strategic Vision to Supply Chain Readiness
Identifying the strategic clarity, confidence and visibility suppliers need to invest, plan, innovate and build the capabilities required by the future railway.
Facilitated by Robert Cairns
Supplier Collaboration and Shared Accountability
Moving beyond transactional relationships while maintaining clear ownership, decision rights, escalation routes and operational control across multiple delivery partners.
Facilitated by Sam El-Jouzi
Fleet Introduction and Operational Readiness
Improving coordination, assurance and transition planning across rolling stock, infrastructure, systems, maintainers and operational teams.
Facilitator to be announced
Digital Transformation and Third-Party Operational Risk
Modernising railway systems while managing technology dependencies, supplier access, software support, resilience, safety and whole-system assurance.
Facilitator to be announced
The Biggest Problems We Have Not Yet Solved
Exploring the persistent challenges that arise when mature programmes and organisations operate within separate delivery silos.
- What rail clients must own and do differently
- Why duties and accountabilities remain unclear across organisational boundaries
- How organisations can make decisions at whole-system and service level
- How competing infrastructure, programme and operational priorities should be resolved
- Why individual organisations can meet their obligations while the collective railway outcome still falls short
- What needs to change to improve integrated decision-making and accountability
Facilitated by Kayleigh Spires
Roundtable Report Back
Recommendations from Rail Leadership Roundtables II
A rapid summary of the most important recommendations, practical actions and unresolved challenges emerging from the afternoon discussions.
Closing Leadership Debate
What Must Change First?
If the rail sector could resolve one issue over the next five years, what would have the greatest impact on operational resilience, supplier collaboration and delivery performance?
Closing Networking
Who Should Attend
The Rail Supply Chain Forum is designed for senior
professionals responsible for delivering, maintaining, managing, procuring, securing, and supporting modern railway systems
and infrastructure.
Typical attendees include:
Rail operators and infrastructure managers
Engineering and maintenance leaders
Procurement and supply chain teams
Asset management and lifecycle specialists
Rolling stock and infrastructure OEMs
System integrators and technology providers
Operational resilience and risk professionals
Programme and transformation leaders
Standards, assurance, and compliance teams
Rail operations and infrastructure delivery teams
Government, regulatory, and industry bodies
Why Attend
The Forum provides a practical, operator-led environment focused on the real-world challenges facing railway supply chains, infrastructure delivery, and long-lifecycle operational systems.
Attendees will benefit from:
Peer-led discussions focused on operational reality
Cross-industry insight from operators, OEMs, and suppliers
Practical discussion around supplier coordination and delivery risk
Greater understanding of lifecycle management challenges in modern rail systems
Insight into infrastructure resilience, maintenance strategy, and operational continuity
Networking with senior decision-makers across the rail ecosystem
Opportunities to explore collaboration across engineering, procurement, operations, and supplier management
Visibility into emerging operational, commercial, and delivery pressures affecting the industry
Key Themes
Supplier assurance and coordination
Lifecycle asset management
Infrastructure resilience and operational continuity
Procurement and engineering alignment
Long-life systems and delivered component management
Maintenance strategy and reliability
Supply chain transparency and dependency risk
Standards implementation and operational governance
Managing complexity across modern railway environments
Sponsors
Partner with the Rail Supply Chain Forum
Engage directly with senior leaders responsible for rail operations, infrastructure, major programmes, procurement, engineering and transformation.
ben.reed@operationalriskcouncil.com
Get in Touch
If you're interested in this event and have further questions, please get in touch. We'll review your message and get back to you within 48 hours.