Spotlight Series: Meet Nafisah Aslam-Zainudeen

For this month's Spotlight piece, we interviewed Nafisah Aslam-Zainudeen, a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and the Head of Engineering and Assurance at Greater Anglia. Nafisah has broken barriers as she has risen through the ranks to become the head of her department. She spoke to us about her passion for increasing female representation in engineering and rail, along with her recommendations to achieve parity.

Can you give us a brief overview of your career and how you ended up at EMR? 

As the Head of Engineering and Assurance at Greater Anglia (GA) my main responsibility is to manage technical risks or defects on our trains to make sure the trains entering passenger service are safe for passenger operation.

When I think back to what I enjoyed studying at school it seems like I enjoyed the subjects that naturally led me to a career in engineering. I loved learning how things worked and asking why (a lot!) and found I had an affinity with maths and physics. After completing my bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, I was lucky enough to get a job on a graduate training programme at TransPennine Express and joined the Rail Engineering Graduate Scheme facilitated by the Rail Delivery Group. This was a fantastic way to enter the industry as it was a structured programme of placements over a period of 18 months, during which time I was able to gain experience in hands-on maintenance, production, technical investigations, engineering design, performance and reliability, train operations, finance, etc., by working in a number of different depots and offices across different Train Operating Companies.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have had a number of excellent opportunities to enhance my knowledge and experience through roles I’ve had at different Train Operating Companies and engineering consultancies. One such role was to work on the introduction of the Class 700 Thameslink fleet from before the contract was awarded to the chosen manufacturer, right through the stages of design, manufacturing and testing until the trains arrived in the UK. The experience I gained through this role helped me in subsequent projects I worked on such as the safety assurance of the Class 800/801 Intercity Express Programme and safety assurance of the design of a depot and station to be delivered as part of HS2. I also had the opportunity to undertake the same role I’m doing today on secondment with South Western Railway. Over the years, I believe the experience and knowledge gained through my previous roles has given me a strong foundation to enable me to do my current role at GA running engineering.

Being an engineer in rail is very rewarding - it’s great to have been able to work on some of the large rail projects in the UK with amazing engineers and colleagues from whom I’ve learned a lot and to see the output of those projects delivered to benefit the society we live in. It’s also amazing to be able to be part of the GA team where everyone works really hard to try and deliver a great service for our passengers each day. In the GA Engineering team, we’re really proud that the effective management of our new train fleet is a key factor in us regularly delivering the best performance in the UK.  

In my current role, my team also manages operational safety risks associated with the work my engineering colleagues undertake at various GA sites, such as depots and sidings. The delivery of job-specific and developmental training for all our engineering colleagues and the assessment of the competence of safety-critical staff all fall within the remit of my current role. To gain assurance that, as an Engineering team, we are compliant with the requirements of ISO9001:2015 and GA’s internal processes and procedures, I am accountable for having a suitable and sufficient audit plan in place.

How do we encourage more women to pursue scientific roles in the transport industry like you have?

There are so many ways we can do this. For me, it starts with education. We need to be teaching girls from a young age that they are the engineers, mathematicians, scientists and designers of tomorrow. Recently, I spoke at my daughter's school about my own career in engineering to a group of 12- and 13-year-olds, hoping that if women in technical roles are more visible, this will inspire more girls to consider a career in what are traditionally believed to be more male-dominated subjects (such as Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths – STEM). The more women who are visible and promoting STEM subjects, and the more of us that choose to speak out about our positive experiences, the easier I hope it will be to encourage the next generation to not only take on and excel in STEM related careers, but also to go further than my generation has.

Whilst things have come along leaps and bounds since I first started as a graduate engineer in the rail industry, there still appear to be some misconceptions that engineering, and to a lesser extent the wider rail and transport industries, are primarily sectors for men. These misconceptions can discourage young women from considering a career in rail engineering, which can lead to our industry missing out on a wealth of potential. This is why I believe it is so important to do what we can to break down these barriers through greater representation, mentorship and empowerment to secure more young women’s interest in the field. Those of us who are already here have the opportunity to create a supportive network that allows everyone to thrive in engineering and rail.

How has representation made a difference in your career trajectory?

For me personally, it’s been inspiring to see strong, intelligent, capable women in leadership positions – seeing women in senior positions made me feel like such positions were not out of reach for anyone willing to put in the effort, without gender being a limiting factor. Throughout my career, I’ve met or worked with some outstanding women, each with their unique key strengths, but all of whom were competent technically, commercially savvy, unafraid to speak up and be heard, hard-working, determined, respected, and well-liked leaders.

How has diversity changed since you first started in rail?

I am pleased to say I’ve seen the industry change significantly since I started as a graduate engineer 17 years ago. Whilst female representation currently stands at 16%, this is up from 11% in 2016. However, when it comes to engineering roles specifically, women make up only 14.4% of the workforce. So there’s still room for us to improve further.

I am very lucky to be part of GA, where diversity is valued, and colleagues are respected equally. I believe the culture at GA, which is driven from the top down, empowers colleagues to share opinions and ideas but also encourages us to challenge each other in a professional and respectful way to always ensure the best possible outcome for our customers.