Ep 20. Responding to a crisis & bee gardens, Tom Moran

On this week’s episode of RTM’s Track Talk, host Ailsa Cowen is joined by Tom Moran, Managing Director of Thameslink & Great Northern. Tom spoke about living with a Victorian rail network, the importance of a diverse workforce, turning stations into art galleries and how the days of having a timetable booklet are gone.  

Tom explained GTR’s three main areas of focus for transforming their stations, “how we can make things work better for passengers, making sure the stations look smarter and we’re also working hard to make our stations more sustainable.” 

Accessibility is also discussed with Tom stating, “I believe very firmly that the current situation isn’t good enough, it’s nowhere near good enough.” 

He also speaks highly of their doubling of female train driver applicants in the past 12 months following a dedicated recruitment campaign and GTR wish to have a 50/50 gender split on all of their training programmes by the end of next year. 

In reference to GTRs response to Covid-19, Tom had nothing but praise for his colleagues. “Nine months of completely unprecedented circumstances, but at every single minute of every day, we’ve kept the railway running.”

His hopes for the future focus on, “the more we can make train travel and trains themselves fully sustainable the better.”