Iain Duncan is a Principal Engineering Leader in TfL. He studied Electronics with Music at Glasgow University and has spent the last 14 years working on the London Underground. Over this time he has gained extensive experience in signalling upgrade projects on the Jubilee and Northern lines, including Transmission Based Train Control reliability, and legacy system modification and replacement. He then made the move from major projects to lead the Equipment Engineering Services team, which primarily supports the signals maintenance directorate. Since taking on the role, he has overseen the introduction of a new points machine to London Underground, and expanded the modes and areas of TfL that the team supports, including several new innovations now in operational use.

Byron de Lange is a Senior Engineer in Transport for London. He studied Electronic Engineering at the University of KwaZulu Natal. After completing his studies he worked for Transnet, the South African freight train operator, for 9 years. During his time at Transnet, he worked on multiple legacy signalling systems. This included Design, Installation, Testing and Commissioning and Project Engineering for the entire lifecycle of Signalling Projects. Since moving to Transport for London he has been involved with the installation of monitoring equipment for failing signalling equipment, technical investigations for signalling equipment failures, the support for testing and validation of unsupported legacy relays for use on the railway, and the redesign of all variants of Glass Enclosed relays. During the last 3 years, he has contributed to the marked reliability improvement seen with the new points machine that was introduced to the railway as well as winning the Dell Award in his second year at Transport for London.

Phil has enjoyed a long and varied career in the railway industry starting with London Underground rolling stock design and development in 1983. Since then, Phil has worked across a wide range of UK and international railway upgrades and operations, from concepts and systems designs, through project delivery to supporting robust entry to operational service of modern systems.

In 2014, Phil was one of the founding directors of CPC Systems Limited, a company that was set up to foster innovative approaches to optimising railway capacity, delivering modern systems effectively and using a diagnostic and data driven approach to supporting operational and maintenance improvements.

Phi was actively involved with ensuring service readiness for Crossrail and is currently engaged on the East Coast Delivery Programme both of which roles have provided exposure to the ETCS systems

Mark Dewhirst is a Chartered Civil Engineer and currently Head of Engineering for the Elizabeth Line at Transport for London (TfL).

He joined TfL in 2009 via their graduate scheme. Over the years he’s held key roles on major projects, including on Crossrail and Bank Station Capacity Upgrade, and more recently as senior advisor to the Director of Engineering.

Mark has also made significant contribution to smart infrastructure: as a Senior Project Engineer he worked on integrating cutting-edge sensing and tunnel movement monitoring technologies for heritage and underground structures .

Outside of project work, he’s active in the engineering community – speaking at industry conferences and sharing his vision for the future of urban transport

David Watkinson is a Senior Engineering Leader within TfL Track Engineering and is the technical lead for gauging. Joining London Transport in 1980 and initially gaining experience in track maintenance, David moved to the LU Track Engineering Team at a time when advances in technology were coming to the fore, transitioning from a drawing desk and hand calculated Hallade alignment designs to a CAD Inrail/BRT environment. From 2004, he has principally provided technical expertise on gauging and PTI issues supporting new LU train introduction on the Victoria and SSR lines plus new fleet to DLR. David leads a team that manages Route Clearance Approval (trains) and Clearance Approval (infrastructure) assurance. Currently, David is an integral part of a team looking at the new challenges posed by the introduction of the radically different 24 Tube Stock to LU.

Colin Davenport is a Track Gauging Engineer based within TfL Track Engineering, with 12 years’ experience working in railway gauging. Colin initially spent five years working for Balfour Beatty delivering gauging support to vehicle manufacturers and infrastructure clients including Network Rail and TfL. During that time, he authored a technical summary report for RSSB evaluating platform gap filler solutions and lead on the development of a new Locomotive Gauge for inclusion in Railway Group Standard GERT8073. A subsequent role at Bombardier/Alstom included working with the design team to ensure gauge compliance of the Aventra fleet being introduced across various GB rail franchises. In his current role at TfL, he provides a range of gauging expertise including supporting the roll-out of 24TS on Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines.

Paul started his career with London Transport in 1982. The first 15 years were spent on buses from driver, inspector, operating and traffic manager before seeing the light (or the dark?) and joining London Underground running the Customer Service Centre. From 2005 Paul led the operational team delivering signalling upgrades to new digital signalling (CBTC) first on the Jubilee line then the Northern and SubSurface lines. From 2016 Paul has worked as a transport consultant first for MTR Elizabeth line on introducing CBTC operations to the Crossrail project and, most recently, delivering the Trial Running program for Metro Trains Sydney on the Sydney Metro project.

In his spare time, Paul is the Heritage Bus Co-ordinator for the London Transport Museum’s fleet of heritage buses.

Toby Nicholson is the Principal Systems Engineer at railRS3 Ltd. Toby started his rail career as a student engineer with GEC Traction/Transportation Projects in 1983. After a brief diversion into plastic packaging R&D he returned to rail as the Electric and Electronics Engineer responsible for elements of the narrow gauge locomotives and rolling stock used in the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

In 1992, Toby was hired by an American consulting firm, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and relocated to San Francisco. He stayed with BAH (and successor companies) for 20 years. During this period, he was based in the USA, Australia, Hong Kong and London. His assignments ranged from diesel electric locomotives, monorails, light rail vehicles and EMUs in the rolling stock arena, while in signalling Toby helped to apply CBTC to brownfield railways across the whole implementation cycle in both North American and London.

In 2012, Toby formed railRS3 Ltd and has since completed assignments, usually for infrastructure owners but occasionally governments and suppliers, covering both signalling and rolling stock in multiple countries including Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, Netherlands, Finland, Montenegro and the UK. Technically he is happiest when faced with a nice safe braking model for a brownfield CBTC system, where all the challenges of taking a true systems approach are present.

Chris Barnes is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 35 years of experience delivering some of London’s most complex tunnelling and underground infrastructure projects. Chris is a Principal Engineering Leader in the TfL Deep Tube Tunnels Team. His current role is as Tunnel Engineer on the HS2 Euston Station Project.

On the Silvertown Project, Chris was the Principal Project Engineer, where he coordinated a multidisciplinary engineering team providing assurance for the new river crossing.

Chris previously worked on the Channel Tunnel, Jubilee Line Extension, Victoria Station Upgrade, Tottenham Court Road, and King’s Cross Redevelopment projects, overseeing design, construction, safety, and regulatory assurance in an operational rail environment.

He is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the British Tunnelling Society.