SCOTRAIL has appointed its first female engineering director, with the announcement coming ahead of International Women in Engineering Day today.
Syeda Ghufran joined the firm in 2010 as an engineering management trainee, gaining valuable hands-on train maintenance experience, and was more recently head of engineering depots – the first female to hold that role.
Since 2013, she has delivered a number of engineering projects, including train reliability modifications, fleet refurbishments, the roll-out of Wi-Fi, and the installation of the Driver Advisory Systems (DAS) – a GPS system which accurately tracks a train’s location and advises the driver what speed to go at, so that the train arrives on time. Ghufran has replaced Angus Thom, who moved to a new role of ScotRail chief operating officer earlier this year.
ScotRail says it is committed to equality and to encouraging more women to join the railway through graduate, apprenticeship, and internship programmes. The train operating company’s recent intake of engineering apprentices are 50% female.
Ghufran said: “I’m really excited to lead a great team of engineers. I want to change perceptions and encourage more young women to consider engineering as a viable and rewarding career.”
Thom said: “Syeda has a strong history of delivering for ScotRail and its customers, and has some great ideas on how to make even more of a difference to our customers’ lives.
“I am delighted to welcome her to the executive team.
“I hope her appointment will encourage more young women and girls to consider a career in engineering with ScotRail.”
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