Matt Kent

Said the following about Mark Ferrer:

“As Siemens’ Operations Director for the Digital Railway, Mark Ferrer is right at the centre of the industry’s drive to deliver a faster, safer railway and a higher-capacity, more-efficient network.

For a number of years, Mark has worked closely with the Digital Railway Programme team and the wider industry to make the Digital Railway a reality – working in partnership with Network Rail colleagues and leading the Siemens team to deliver the Thameslink High Capacity Improvement (HCI) project, the first operational application of full ATO over ETCS in the UK, and possibly the world.

The delivery of the Thameslink HCI Improvement programme was not only an example of Mark’s ability to lead and safely deliver one of the UK’s largest and high-profile infrastructure projects, but also his commitment to and belief in the deployment of new technology.

Many would shy away from driving new solutions in to a project which was so closely scrutinised, but Mark oversaw the successful introduction not only of ATO over ETCS, but also train-carried ATP and Siemens’ new WTS zone controller technology – all introduced in to an operational railway for the first time on the Thameslink Programme. Following its introduction here, Mark and his team then led the deployment of WTS and its integration into regional projects such as the Liverpool Lime Street, Weaver to Wavertree, Huddersfield to Bradford, Derby, Polmodie and Rutherglen and Motherwell resignalling programmes.

Building on this pioneering theme, he is now leading a pan-European Siemens team that will move to introduce new ETCS solutions, such as Hybrid Level 3.

All this is possible, not only because of Mark’s outstanding engineering talent, but also his ability to lead, motivate and inspire confidence in those working for and alongside him.

Leading a wide-ranging team, one of his great strengths is ability to act as an enabler for others to achieve. Over many years he has demonstrated an ability to work collaboratively with people across the industry, creating the right environment and the right conditions for others to safely, smoothly and successfully deliver their work.

In doing so, he leads by example, demonstrating behaviours that others follow and enabling his teams to progress.

Mark has been described as an ‘inspirational leader’, a ‘dynamic and committed advocate of new technology’, but perhaps most frequently as a ‘proper signalling engineer’. He is someone who is totally committed to developing and delivering high quality, technically advanced solutions that will benefit the industry and the travelling public.“