Rail Operations Manager

At the heart of the rail network for over three decades, Porterbrook is the UK’s leading rolling stock financier and asset management company with 4000 vehicles in our diverse portfolio of passenger and freight trains.

By working together with our partners, we deliver high-quality, agile rolling stock solutions that ensure the railway remains safe, reliable, sustainable and fit for the future.

We don’t just provide trains – we provide a customer-focused platform for long‑term success. Since 1994, Porterbrook has invested over £4bn in new rolling stock including £1bn of capital in new trains, fleet upgrades, traction innovation and rail infrastructure in the last five years.

With our strategic and empathetic funding solutions, we’re actively looking to invest a further £1bn in the years ahead.

Our Long Marston Operations Team provide onsite logistical solutions and support services, tailored to our internal and external customers’ needs. The successful candidate will be joining a dynamic, professionally trained depot team.

A great opportunity for an exceptional Rail Operations Manager, to join the Porterbrook team.

Key responsibilities:

• Management of the LM RIC rail operations team, ensuring effective utilisation of competent resource to safely deliver rail operations plans
• Development of rosters for the rail operations team, ensuring sufficient available resource to deliver operations plans at all times
• Management of welfare of rail operations team members in line with company procedures
• Lead the planning of all rail operations carried out at LM RIC, ensuring plans are suitably prioritised, and effectively visualised & communicated to the rail operations team and all other affected stakeholders on a daily basis
• Chair daily and weekly rail operations planning meetings
• Work with the Operations Trainer & Assessor to ensure that rail operations team members have the required competence to carry out the full range of their duties and that such competence is maintained at all times
• Work with the Operations Safety & Standards Manager to implement the fatigue risk management system (FRMS) to proactively monitor levels of fatigue within the rail operations team, and enable timely intervention to mitigate associated risk
• Work with the Operations Safety & Standards Manager to ensure that operational standards, procedures, and rules are fit for purpose and are effectively implemented, regularly reviewed, and updated to incorporate best practice
• Carry out operational audits and quality checks to proactively monitor levels of compliance with operational standards, procedures, and rules – and to identify areas of good practice
• Develop and implement a suite of KPIs to enable proactive monitoring of operational delivery performance – delivering or exceeding against agreed targets
• Management of capacity planning within all yards and sidings across the site to support pipeline planning
• Act as the main point of contact for external rail operations customers/ stakeholders and third‑party suppliers
• Gain, and maintain depot driving and shunting competence to enable such duties to be performed as a contingency measure as required
• Ensure all operational safety events and near misses are reported and investigated in a timely manner
• Assist the Operations Safety & Standards Manager with the production, review, and update of risk assessments to cover the full scope of rail operations at LM RIC to ensure associated safety risk is managed to a level As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP)
• Ensure operations notices, bulletins, and urgent safety alerts are produced and briefed to all affected parties in a timely manner – and…