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“I am putting Nathan Sealy forward as Rail Engineer of the Year for his outstanding contribution, engineering judgement, expertise and behaviour on the Core Valley Lines Transformation Programme in South Wales.
The CVL is an extremely challenging £738m transformation of the valleys enabling huge socio-economic benefit to the areas north of Cardiff. The TfW requirement for a south wales metro was ground-breaking as for the first time train and track are being procured together, heavy rail maintenance has been transferred from Network Rail to TfW, and novel solutions were required to enable the future integration of on street tram running from the centre of Cardiff to the Bay with the existing railway.
In 2018 Nathan was part of a small team within Amey who conceived the original concept and has been the engineering ‘glue’ that has transferred that concept into reality. The project has taken on discontinuous electrification to make electrification in the valleys viable, has embraced SPEED and PACE with its own bespoke assurance model that removes role duplication but still adheres to industry standards, and has taken on the challenge of main line to line-of-sight signalling to meet the Cardiff bay requirement. This has involved a huge collaborative and innovative effort from Amey and TfW’s supply chain. Nathan has ensured that the engineering vision has been cascaded to all partners – Siemens, Balfour Beatty, Alun Griffiths, Stadler and Network Rail.
Nathan’s current role as Systems Integration Director involved him creating a team to administer Projectwise and BIM level 2 environment the project aspires too, introducing tools such as Complypro to manage the project’s complex assurance case needs (including requirements, derogations and CDM/CSM), as well as building and leading the systems engineering, integration and V&V activities.
Nathan has led much of the engineering innovation on CVL and whilst being a multi discipline rail infrastructure expert has also dovetailed the needs of the train manufacturers and depot operators into this scheme to get to the solution we have. His systems thinking has placed him and his team at the centre of the project yet he will always find the time to mentor juniors or support the wider team.
Having known Nathan for many years I’ve always been impressed how he uses his practical engineering knowledge to immediately identify the issue and potential solutions. When the muck and bullets are flying from a commercial and programme perspective, he’s often the one driving the project to the most pragmatic solution and silencing the room in the process!
With a strong sense of empathy and as a mental health first aider Nathan also recognises when team members are pushing too hard and has intervened on many occasions. He leads by example by not taking on too much himself, maintaining a strong work/life balance and challenging others to do the same.
Whether it be VIP visits or inducting new apprentices Nathan is often the one presenting our engineering solution in a way all can understand and buy into. He is incredibly passionate about the legacy we’re creating for the people of Wales.“
“Nathan has been the introducer, enabler & driver of successful and sensible engineering solutions to support the current transformation of the Cardiff Valley Lines in South Wales working collaboratively with Transport for Wales. Nathan truly lives the Amey value of "Transforming journeys enabling communities to thrive"
Nathan's commitment & effort has driven the introduction and embedment of solutions which has offered game changing operating efficiencies delivering benefit for the travelling public.
Nathan is always focused on the development and wellbeing of his engineering team.
Nathan drives high level of engineering assurance across the programme ensuring a high quality product is delivered for the customer.“
“Nathan is the absolute figurehead in the Engineering solutions and assurance on the Cardiff Valley Lines programme. Nathan has been involved in this project from inception and without his knowledge of the scheme and his understanding of the solutions and engineering in general, many key aspects and deliverables would not have been met for the Client or for the scheme.
When I started on the project over 3 years ago, it was Nathan who explained the scheme, in terms of scope and deliverables. It was Nathan who went into the detail of the unique design solutions being incorporated into the scheme, explaining these to me in a manner which drew the understanding of the solution but translated it into a language and vision which could be easily understood.
Nathan's passion and drive to deliver this project is evident to all and his advice is sought and accepted by all who work within the project from Client to delivery partners.
There are many key examples of where this is evident, but one such example where I had to work closely with Nathan was when there were challenging expectations from the Client around potential Value Engineering opportunities. Nathan wholly understood the brief but also understood that the scheme still needed to deliver the Clients requirements but with other potential opportunities. His interaction here was key to ensure that the scheme still delivered its overall requirements.
An incredibly passionate engineer who strives for a quality engineering solution.“
“I've worked with Nathan for a number of years but most recently on the CVL project where it is clear he is a knowledgeable, dedicated and passionate individual. Not afraid to challenge the method or the way of working and propose new solutions, some of which have completely evolved our way of thinking. Nathan is a respected member of the senior team and is often asked to support visits from the client or other parties as his enthusiasm and technical knowledge are second to none.“
“I am nominating Nathan as Rail engineer of the Year for his leadership and drive to ensure that the CVL Transformation is the best overall solution for all; coupled with his commitment to the wellbeing and development of the team.
Since I joined the programme Nathan has been a single, constant guardian of the overall solution, ensuring that changes do not affect the planned outcomes at a railway level. He is quick to stand up and ensure that any impact on the wider stakeholders is considered, ensuring that the scheme ultimately delivers the expected value to the communities in Cardiff and the surrounding area.
Nathan draws on the breadth and depth of his knowledge and experience as part of achieving the above. He is always happy to make time to share his experience with those who look up to him, acting as a guide, mentor and coach to the wider team.
Nathan is a champion of wellbeing and mental health within the project, quick to speak up and often being the much needed voice of the people delivering the project; ensuring they are supported and defended against the pull of the programme. He has championed flexible working within the project, supporting people to work as is best for them and the project together.
I do not believe that the CVL Transformation, and the team delivering it, would be in the position it is today without Nathan’s continued drive and commitment.“
“I want to nominate Nathan as Rail Engineer of the year as he has demonstrated in the Core Valley Lines (CVL) project what I think is the ultimate function of an engineer: Solving problems. And he is able to do this with constructive and collaborative behaviour, listening everyone's opinions and applying engineering judgement to the available information.
He has been able to step up from his core discipline, signalling, where his knowledge has been instrumental to the final solution to be implemented in CVL, to be a key contributor to the decision making in all other rail disciplines constituting the project (infrastructure and rolling stock).
Another key contribution from Nathan to rail engineering has been leading the development of the self-assurance model that is being successfully utilised in CVL and which, for sure, will be a benchmark for future projects where this approach is considered.
Finally, I want to highlight his personal skills in relation to looking after his team, being supportive to his peers, leadership and communication. He is a great example of how the industry has evolved from the old fashioned bossy-style to modern collaborative leadership.“
“I am nominating Nathan as Rail Engineer of the year for his technical and personal leadership. Working with Nathan since 6 years on the CVL project, I had the opportunity to enjoy its broad competencies not only in technical fields related to railway industry but also to what matters the most: the Client vision. Focused on delivering the best product at the right cost to operate the service, he fully understands and promotes the systemic view to benefit for passengers.
Additionally, he welcomes and facilitates other's views and, through clear explanations, can address problems, solve issues and obtain adhesion.
Coming from abroad, I found in Nathan an open-minded engineer with real deep railway competencies and a systemic view, which has been key in the way the CVL project has been innovative and will be successful.“
“I joined Amey 7 years ago from another highly safety regulated industry where system engineering is the key driver for decision making. Nathan impressed me during his system engineering training in 2016 to senior engineers and above group. Since 2018 I have been working with him in CVL project.
Nathan is Amey Consulting South Regional Engineering Director. I am aware approaching him directly, difficult on a traditional director set up, that Nathan is one those directors who breaks this echo and living with Amey values.
Working closely with Nathan allows me to continuously improve my core discipline Civils submissions with very high quality in CVL project.
He is instrumental to me learning multi-disciplinary Railway assurance away from core discipline Civils for example (CSM-RA, EiS etc).
I am very fortunate his open communications with me for handling things a better way which cannot control myself on a challenging project like CVL.
I do believe that without him we could not have achieved CVL progress to this level.“
“I've been working with Nathan since 2018, when we were successful in winning the Wales and Borders train franchise, which included the Core Valley Lines (CVL) asset transfer and Transformation project.
Nathan was the engineering leader of the core team that developed the "system solution" for the bid, which is now being delivered as part of the Transformation project.
One of Nathan's greatest skills, is being able to see the whole picture and understand how all the various parts of the system fit together, from the engineering aspects of both the train and infrastructure solution to the operation of the train service and the maintenance and management of the infrastructure assets.
As System Integration Director, Nathan leads a combined team from Amey, TfW and TfW Rail Services to ensure that the complex CVL solution works. His ability to take a complicated solution and explain it and manage it in a way that all can grasp the concept, is the reason he is so effective in his role.
Nathan is an absolute top performer, I'm sure he will continue to develop in his career and will be recognised as an industry leader in the field of Railway Engineering, that's why I believe he deserves this award.“
“In is substantive Engineer Director role and his current Wales & Borders project Requirements Director role, I consider Nathan Sealy to be an exemplary person and absolute role model for engineering directorship. I say these words with absolute conviction and sight Nathan's ability to effectively communicate at all levels and a very good listener. In his leadership roles, Nathan is not afraid to say if he got something wrong, for example a process he himself documented taking it 'on the chin', reflect, consult then re-write the process and re-brief to the benefit of project delivery - easy to say but not so easy to do!
I have nothing but admiration for Nathan as a person and an engineering leader of the highest class. He is these things combined with modesty and a sense of humour. Nathan demonstrates a complete lack of any arrogance despite his surety and all-round confidence key attributes, in my view, that differentiate good from excellent leaders with Nathan firmly in the latter category.“
“Thank you so much for an amazing evening. The attention to detail that goes into the Rail Staff Awards does not go unnoticed, everything from the décor, food, entertainment and most importantly the awards themselves was first class. It was a privilege for me to present the Samaritans Life Saver Award in recognition of all those who went above and beyond and approached a vulnerable person, truly amazing, incredible work! A huge well done to you and to the Rail Staff Awards for providing the opportunity to publicly recognise such care and dedication. Keep up the good work!”
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