Ten outstanding young professionals in the rail industry have been named as winners of the 2023 Heavy Haul Rail Next Generation scholarship.
The program was first launched in 2017 to encourage new industry entrants to share their ideas and share their innovative ideas on how to disrupt, improve or positively impact the future of heavy haul rail in Australia and New Zealand.
This year’s winners of the scholarship, supported by Speno Rail Maintenance Australia (SRMA), were:
- Will Penrose, Technical Sales Engineer, Vossloh Cogifer Australia
- Yit Shan Chan, Final Year Student at Curtin University and Undergraduate Engineer, Downer
- Kelsey D’Rozario, Communications Officer, Downer
- Riley Gregson, Mechanical Design Engineer, voestalpine
- Duncan Minh Dang Nguyen, Graduate Rail Engineer, WSP
- Megan Wong, Graduate Engineer, WSP
- Russell Watt, Mechanical Engineer, BHP
- Jaime Hoelzl, Graduate Mechanical Engineer, Aurizon
- Tamika Roberts, Graduate Mechanical Engineer, Aurizon
- Loay Yousef, Engineer, WSP
Speaking at the conference, SRMA managing director Mark Green said the company was proud to support young people as they entered their careers in rail.
SRMA itself takes in many graduate rail engineers to perform its rail asset longevity, maintenance, and quality tasks.
“The Next Generation scholarship encourages youth to get into the industry and enables them to attend conferences and networking events where they can share their thoughts and ideas,” he said.
“The exposure and experience is invaluable.”
SRMA continues to lead in the field of rail maintenance, technology, diagnostics, and rectification, guided by its mission to provide sustainable, high-quality rail grinding and ultrasonic solutions in an innovative and safe working environment.
“We dedicate a significant amount of time and resources into our people, who are our strength,” Green said.
“Upskilling, educating and training is a priority, providing the necessary information, resources, support and qualifications to undertake their daily tasks competently, confidently and safely. We encourage our people to learn, question, contribute, progress and succeed.
“We are proud of our graduate succession plan which has a focus on sustainability of the industry and its people.
“And we’re currently developing a training program to align staff with systems and processes that will help them develop products to national standards.”
The conference was organised by Informa Australia.