West Coast Partnership Stakeholder Conference 2025

Andy Mellors joined British Rail as an engineering management trainee in 1988, graduating in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College in 1992. 

After undertaking various engineering and production roles in London and Liverpool, Andy joined FirstGroup in 2002, becoming Engineering Director for First North Western (2003), before moving to similar roles at First Scotrail (2004) and then First Great Western (now Great Western Railway) in 2007 where he was also Deputy Managing Director. 

In 2017, Andy became Managing Director for the new South Western Railway franchise, before moving into the role of Managing Director, Non-Franchised Businesses for First Rail in 2020.  In this role, he oversaw the mobilisation of Lumo, the award-winning open-access operation between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh, the successful post-pandemic recovery of Hull Trains, First Rail’s open-access business operating between London and Hull as well as the expansion of First Customer Contact who provide customer relations services to a number of Train Operating Companies.

Having supported the senior team at Avanti West Coast in developing and delivering their recovery programme from Summer 2022, Andy was appointed Managing Director in March 2023.

Andy is a Chartered Engineer and was previously Chair of the Railway Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Shamit Gaiger OBE is the Managing Director for West Coast Partnership Development (WCPD), the Shadow Operator for HS2, having joined the business in July 2022. She is the Chair of Campaign for Better Transport and was the President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport’s (CILT) Railway Study Forum. Furthermore, Shamit is as non-executive director of Women in Rail as well as the founder of Senior Women in (or Formerly in) UK rail or Transport (SWiFT).

Shamit boasts an extensive career in the transport and infrastructure  sector; with previous roles at the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB); Director of Strategy at National Skills Academy for Rail; and at the Department for Transport where she led the Rail Sector Deal negotiations on behalf of the UK Government and was a Non-Executive Director for Passenger Services.

In June 2024 Shamit was awarded an OBE for her services to the industry.

Before joining WCPD, Shamit led the Advisory Europe team at AECOM – an international infrastructure consulting company. Now she is leading WCPD in designing and developing train services for the new HS2 railway, whilst driving change and championing new, improved standards in customer experience for future high-speed rail travel in the UK.

Prior to her current position at Transport Focus, Natasha spent over twenty years on the West Coast Mainline with the majority of that time with Virgin Trains. Carrying out various roles from the frontline to the boardroom she has focused on both customer and people throughout her career.

She was a part of the executive team at Virgin Trains for four years as Executive Director People and Culture and as Executive Director Customer Experience. Natasha joined Transport Focus from Chiltern Railways where she was Interim Head of Customer Strategy.

Having spent 20 years in senior management in the private sector, Craig moved into the public sector as a programme delivery consultant at Birmingham City Council where he worked on a number of corporate projects & programmes before undertaking work for the regional LEP on delivering key regional strategies. This led to Craig being the author of the first HS2 Growth Strategy in 2015 and leading the regional team charged with delivering the wider economic and social benefits of
HS2 – developing the mantra of ‘beyond building a railway’. In 2019, he led the West Midlands response to the Oakervee review and in 2021 updated the regions view of HS2 with a refreshed WM HS2 Growth Strategy – The Defining Decade’.

Craig is now leading the work in the region supporting the private sector consortium that has been formed to look at developing alternative costed solution following the former Prime Minister’s decision to cancel phases 2a & 2b of HS2.

Silviya Barrett is Director of Policy and Campaigns at Campaign for Better Transport – the national charity championing high quality, affordable sustainable transport. Silviya joined the charity in February 2020. She is responsible for building the organisation’s policy, research and campaigns programme and managing external engagement. She also leads project delivery and local engagement. Prior to that, she was Research Manager at think tank Centre for London.

Darren Caplan has been Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA) since January 2017, leading efforts to grow the rail supply sector and raise RIA’s profile with key decision makers. Under his leadership, RIA has won over 10 industry awards and significantly expanded, including the 2023 acquisition of two media outlets and a supplier community. Darren previously led the Airport Operators Association and has a background in communications and public affairs across infrastructure and technology sectors. He’s also a dedicated Crystal Palace FC supporter.

Gareth Snell is the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, re-elected in 2024 after previously serving from 2017 to 2019. A Keele University graduate, he began his career as a union representative for NHS workers before entering local politics, becoming Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in 2012. He first entered Parliament in a 2017 by election and was known for his criticism of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. After losing his seat in 2019, Snell remained politically active and later managed a mayoral campaign. Since returning to Parliament, he has faced scrutiny for supporting the means-testing of winter fuel payments.

Vernon is Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Executive Board, and Chair of Transport for Wales. He advises on the development of the Bee Network in Greater Manchester and works to integrate transport across Wales. His focus is on customer and business centered transport strategies that drive ridership, revenue, and economic growth. Vernon previously held senior roles at Transport for London, the Financial Services Authority, and the Bank of England, and is a senior transport advisor at consultancy Teneo.

Mark has been a customer experience professional in rail for the last ten years, with a recent focus on designing the customer experience functions of the future Great British Railways. Previously, Mark lead ScotRail’s customer experience team and established its customer insight capabilities so embraces making customer and data-led decision making. Before joining the rail industry, Mark worked in Scottish television and the further education sectors.

Sezin is a passionate and experienced customer experience (CX) leader with expertise across the retail, hospitality, telecom, and transport sectors. She is currently Head of CX and Customer Proposition at West Coast Partnership Development, where she is leading the design and delivery of the future customer proposition for high-speed rail services in the UK — placing customers at the heart of the experience and setting new standards in the industry through innovation.

Previously, Sezin led the omni-channel CX transformation at KFC UK, including the launch of an AI-driven voice of the customer programme and the leadership of an award-winning customer service team. At Vodafone, she delivered global retail transformation programmes across 19 countries, focused on retail innovation and new store concept roll outs.

She is a strong advocate for customer-first thinking and a keen follower of emerging CX trends and technologies across industries.

Steve has over 35 years of operational railway experience having started as an on-train guard in the early nineties. His career has seen him lead large operational teams across multiple Train Operating Companies, and more recently Steve was Operations Director on Network Rail’s East Midlands route. The delivery of a major signalling re-control scheme, and timetable structural performance improvements formed a key part of Steve’s time on the East Midlands route.

In June 2025, Steve began his current role as Operations Director, West Coast South.