Iain Ellis

I joined British Rail in 1988, working as a Technical Officer (TO) in the Permanent Way Design section at Melton House, Watford.

Always a Relayer, I was involved in the glory days of Intercity, developing more efficient and less disruptive renewal methods, innovative plant solutions as well as maintaining a close liaison with the Electrification staff.

A natural progression of promotion, higher grade duty and a move meant that he was in Preston at Privatisation, identified with Central Track Renewals, now part of Carillion.

Having been involved in the estimating and bidding process, Manchester Victoria Area Infrastructure Renewals (MVAIR) was the newly renamed Centrac's first big job and I was there as Responsible Engineer for Permanent Way.

Surprisingly delivered to time, successfully, and nearly within budget, MVAIR was where I started gaining my knowledge of civil engineering, signalling and railway operations and how they all fit together.

After the project handed back Iain left Centrac to broaden his horizons with Mott MacDonald. I now lead a team of track designers in a large multi-discipline design office in Manchester, which has grown from one (me) in 1999 to 50+ today.

The collection of information never stops, and I now teach graduate engineers all those things I have learned in my 22 years.