Kate Smith

Said the following about Ricky Barsby:

“I would like to nominate Ricky Barsby for Rail Project Manager of the Year due to his outstanding work leading the East Coast Upgrade Team at LNER throughout the past 12 months.

The East Coast Upgrade is the single biggest railway upgrade programme in many years and requires a massive amount of planning in order to ensure a smooth operation and an excellent passenger experience during the disruption. The programme has involved a number of full and partial closures of London King’s Cross meaning that major changes to LNER services have taken place several times throughout the duration.

At the start of 2019, the task of planning and preparing began for Network Rail and other operators on the ECML. LNER brought in a brand new team to run the project, led by Ricky as Project Manager. Ricky developed a clear vision of the LNER approach to the project and worked closely with the project team to apply this to each of the blockades.

The first weekend of work took place in July 2019 and presented an operational challenge for LNER. Due to works taking place on other platforms, LNER services started and terminated on just two platforms throughout the weekend, with only a twenty-minute turnaround between arrival and departure. A solid operational plan was vital to ensuring performance along the route whilst also maintaining a high level of service for our customers. Ricky developed a detailed platform and operational management plan for King’s Cross and held briefing sessions with all partners involved (Network Rail, GTR, Atalian Servest & Rail Gourmet) to ensure the weekend would be a success. The operational plan worked incredibly well and secured a PPM of over 90% on both days of the weekend.

The second weekend of work took place on August Bank Holiday 2019 and involved the first full closure of London King’s Cross in over ten years. LNER services were to start and terminate at Peterborough throughout the weekend and a large-scale rail replacement operation was required to allow passengers onward travel towards London. With restricted capacity across the route, and August Bank Holiday being one of the busiest weekends of the year for our customers, it was also vital to ensure communication with our customers was clear and they were advised in advance of the planned disruption. Ricky not only ensured that LNER stations and teams were prepared for the challenge ahead but was central to coordinating an industry-wide approach to the disruption. Working closely with other operators to ensure all passenger journeys were considered and supporting the strengthening of other operator services as required, Ricky’s collaborative approach ensured the plan was as strong as possible.

Ricky was also at the forefront of the station operational planning for Peterborough during this time which involved the resourcing of a bespoke tanking solution for our fleet and leading the development of a customer-centric rail replacement operation and waiting area.

The weekend was a huge success with excellent performance and positive customer feedback each day.

The successful weekends in 2019 enabled LNER and other operators involved in the East Coast Upgrade to build upon and improve project plans, reflecting on lessons learned, in order to deliver several more weekends at the start of 2020. This also included a new operational challenge of LNER services terminating at St Neots, a station that the company does not normally serve.

Ricky has brought a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the Project and has used this to pull together informed plans for the duration of the engineering works so far. His enthusiasm and dedication to consistently deliver successful operational and customer service plans has helped to motivate and inspire the wider Project Team to provide the level of support required for a programme of works of this size and magnitude.

Ricky consistently demonstrates a genuine level of care for his team and provides a high degree of support, not only to the immediate Project Team, but also to anyone across the wider business and industry involved in the delivery of the project plans. He leads by example and is always on-hand to assist if there are issues or concerns regarding the project. Ricky can always be relied upon to approach his work with honesty and integrity in order to get things right.

The level of leadership and commitment that Ricky has displayed throughout the East Coast Upgrade so far has helped LNER to consistently deliver an amazing customer experience during the planned disruption and fully embed the East Coast Upgrade Project Team into the business. The engineering works will continue into 2021 and we have every confidence that we are in good hands with Ricky at the helm for the remainder of the project.“