CAF’s Christine Fernandes appointed Chair of Women in Rail

Christine Fernandes, Business Development Lead at CAF, has been appointed the new Chair of Women in Rail.

Christine takes over the role on October 1 from Women in Rail (WR) founder Adeline Ginn MBE, who has held the position since establishing the charity nine years ago.

Christine has been involved with Women in Rail since 2018 as a member of the WR London Committee and, also, as a member of the WR Wales Group before taking on the role of Chair for Wales in February this year.

“Adeline has left a great legacy for me to build on,” explains Christine.

“The responsibility to guide and lead Women in Rail into the next chapter of its development is a great privilege.

“I look forward to the challenge and opportunity to shape and influence the future, even more so in these times of change within the industry and world post-Covid.”

Christine has 30 years’ diverse experience of the UK rail industry, encompassing manufacturing, leasing, operations, track and consulting. She achieved Chartered Engineer status some 20 years ago and added to her list of credentials in 2003 with a Masters of Business Administration.

Christine started her career in 1990 with The British Railways Board as a sponsored Undergraduate engineering management trainee. She achieved a Masters degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Newcastle University.

Her leadership, client relationship development and project management skills have been gained through key roles with industry-leading organisations.

Christine’s many successes include steering the introduction of new CAF diesel and electric trains for Northern Rail, leading a team to deliver the Stadler Rail bid submission which won the Merseytravel franchise, heading up the track infrastructure replacement programme as part of the Victoria Tube Line upgrade on behalf of Metronet and developing and leading multi-million pound strategic UK bids for Bombardier.

Joining CAF in 2017 as part of the Business Development Team, Christine has played a key role in securing several high-profile projects including the £700m CAF Wales and Borders new trains order.

“CAF is, and continues to be, a great support through my journey with WR, allowing me the flexibility to take on this new role. This underpins the support that CAF has for the charity,” says Christine.

Richard Garner, CAF UK Director, comments: “I am thrilled that Christine has been appointed the Chair of WR. She has done remarkably well and will be a great asset.

“CAF supports WR’s objectives wholeheartedly and recently launched our Diversity & Inclusion Strategy with the aim of increasing the number of females within the business, particularly in engineering roles.

“We very much look forward to continuing to support Christine in her new role.”

Photo credit: CAF

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