The RailStaff Awards 2024

Nominations for Rail Project Manager Award

Sujeet Chandra

Said the following about Tara Scott-Browne:

“I would like to nominate Tara Scott-Browne in the category of Rail Project Manager of the year.

Tara is a Design Project Manager in Southern Rail System Alliance (SRSA) and looks after the outline and detailed design submissions across the Western Switches & Crossing portfolio. She has always successfully delivered all schemes on time, to budget and to the specification of the client. Over last 4 years, she has worked closely with our Engineering Managers and other colleagues in SRSA to deliver over 20 schemes in Western, Wales and Wessex area of multi-million-pound value.

Tara is a one of the finest project managers who I have worked with. Her journey from an administrative assistant to Project Manager in a highly complex, multi-disciplinary railway environment in merely 5 years is quite remarkable. She is now an APM member, a PRINCE2 practitioner and an accredited AECOM PM. She often steps in more senior roles such as deputy to the Western and Wales Design Manager.

She is well regarded and respected for her professional approach and brings positive energy to the team. She is an excellent team player and perfectly imbibes the true spirit of the alliance. Recently one of the staff went on long term sickness and she readily volunteered herself to lead a large and complex enhancement work package as well as managing her own portfolio.

Through her strong interpersonal skills, she has gained a reputation of a very trustworthy colleague and has built very strong relationships with our clients. They admire her for the ‘can-do’ attitude. She always works hard to deliver to the desired alliance objectives and her excellent relationship with alliance colleagues helps her in finding solutions to tricky problems. The entire project team respect her and value her opinion. She is able to manage all parties, including 3rd parties, very well. Because of her remarkable attitude and maturity, she is the ‘go-to’ person of the team.

Tara actively manages the design programme to ensure key dates are hit and is readily able to identify blockers and help the team find resolutions. She is sharp and has an excellent understanding of the design process and is not afraid to challenge what is not right. Through her management of weekly design reviews and survey meetings, she is always aware of where each project is and is able to take proactive action to support. She works closely with planners of SRSA to ensure that site visits are planned safely, and every staff comes back home safely after the site visits. She is proactive with resource management. Tara has demonstrated an ability to manage resources to assist with continuity of designer and is comfortable approaching and discussing resource requirements with all disciplines.

Last but not the least, her greatest quality is to enjoy others success as much as hers. She has taken an active interest in developing fellow project managers in last year. She knows that developing the team for the future is essential for the success of the entire team.“