Ep 54. Sharpening the commercial focus of rail – Interview with Alicia Andrews

Rail Technology Magazine Podcast

In this episode of the Rail Technology Magazine Podcast, we chat to Alicia Andrews, commercial director at Southeastern.

Alicia is in charge of the commercial arm of one of Britain’s biggest operators on one of the Britain’s busiest lines.

How can operators innovate and keep nimble in such a cost driven environment? Alicia explains how Southeastern tackle this and its plans to keep their focus on innovation.

Revenue generation and passenger habits also take centre stage as we discuss how Southeastern have navigated the changing face of the commuter and the impact it has had on a broadly commuter-centric operator.

As Alicia explains, striking the right balance between delivering for the passenger and delivering for the business means research, development and innovation is a challenge unique to rail. And she discusses how Southeastern approach this.

But, bringing change and sharpening the commercial eye of train operators is a task which is not unique just to Southeastern as collaboration and the sharing of ideas within the industry means everybody benefits.

The podcast is a unique insight into how an operator approaches its commercial operations and what it sees its future role in the industry is.