John Dougan

Said the following about Ryan Duff:

“I would like to nominate Ryan Duff, Project Delivery Engineering Manager from the Network Rail North West Electrification Programme (NWEP) team as Rail Person of the Year for their outstanding contribution to one of the more challenging infrastructure projects that have commissioned this year.

As the Designated Project Engineer for NWEP Phase 3 (Preston to Blackpool electrification and route modernisation), he has the accountability for the engineering aspects of the project from the Network Rail perspective.

He has led the engineering from the development of the scheme through to the detailed design, implementation and commissioning over the last five years, finally bringing the new infrastructure into operational use in May 2018.

Ryan is a great person with a very personable touch – and has certainly made a strong effort to build personal relationships with the other engineers in the team, across other NR functions like project management, commercial, sponsorship, etc, as well as working collaboratively with the supply chain – to help others remain positively focussed on what we need to do, for the project to be successful.

Despite the exceptional pressures involved in being the lead for engineering across the £255m project, and the impact that was having on his work/ family life balance, he always remained calm, pleasant to work with, focussed on the key issues (never sweating the small stuff), and most importantly, retained a great sense of humour, when it would have been all too easy to have succumbed to the pressure.

Several people across the project have approached me numerous times, highlighting how great an asset he has been to the wider team, how they have great respect for him, and how easy it is to engage with him. It is always a great accolade when others see you as both capable and a decent person in equal measure, at the same time – especially considering the pressure he has been living with the last few years.

But that accolade is even higher when you consider that he has worked tirelessly, to bring about a project which enables great improvements in rail travel for the North West, through the outputs of electrification, conversion of level crossings, renewal and simplification of the infrastructure to improve reliability and reduce conflicts on this key route. In this not only does his colleagues benefit from his talents, but the travelling public likewise.“