Lucy Prior

Membership Development and International Trade Director, Rail Alliance

Membership Development and International Trade Director, Rail Alliance

Lucy Prior is one of the railway’s unsung heroes. She’s played a vital role in the success of many companies in the industry, but works very much behind the scenes.

Unlike many people who work on the railway, Lucy is not an engineer, and hasn’t studied maths and physics for work, but appreciates the sciences while also being an art lover. This combined appreciation of the sciences and arts has served her surprisingly well in her career in rail.

Lucy did a degree in languages and is fluent in French and Spanish. Having worked in sales for a number of years, she reached a point in her career where she wanted a new challenge and contacted a recruitment agency with two requirements - a job in sales in which she could use her language skills.

“A few weeks later I was working for Mechan - a company that manufactures rail depot equipment in Sheffield. Within my first week I was on their stand at a big international rail event in Berlin [Innotrans], using my languages and working in sales. “So, I got into rail by accident, but I don’t think I’ll ever leave it.” She’s now been in the industry for almost 12 years. “I’m really proud to work in the railway, but I didn’t set out to get a railway job. Having said that, I’m constantly recommending the sector to people because of the massive opportunities it offers.”

Lucy now works for Rail Alliance as membership development and international trade director, which is a long title for what she says is essentially just talking to people!

“I join the dots. I’ve been so lucky because I’ve progressed from pure sales and following opportunities, to business development where you’re finding and nurturing new relationships, to where I am now, helping others to do that.

“I absolutely love the job I’m in now because I come across such a diverse range of people.”

Lucy describes a day that really encapsulates the best aspects of her job. In the morning she had met with the head of innovation at a “really snazzy” train operating company to look at more interesting ways to use passenger waiting rooms outside of peak hours. Within six weeks, that meeting had turned into an inviteonly First Class waiting room launch event. The afternoon of that first meeting, she was visiting a Sheffield steel working company, learning about trepanning and metrology.

“I speak to any and all manner of companies within the rail sector and join the dots between all those different players and help introduce people to one another.

“I get to meet so many amazing people doing so many amazing things. Someone will come to me with a problem; they need to find a product or service, or sometimes they’re the ones with a product they want help selling. It’s just so cool to be able to put people in touch with one another and make the connections that can save them years.”

Because Lucy’s job is to meet people, she travels all over the country, which is challenging to manage for a parent of two young children and what she describes as a “gaggle of pets”. But she says her children love that she always has a story to tell when she comes home and that “mum has been to a different town every day”.

“The bosses of my company are remarkable in their attitude to flexible working. They trust me to do my hours, which I do, and then some. I also have an amazing support network at home. Having access to childcare both official and unofficial is a complete lifesaver, as is a partner that supports me and shares childcare duties as much as possible.”

It’s Lucy’s arts background that really keeps her sane and that, she firmly believes, is just as important to the railway and society as a whole.

“I’m not an engineer, but I work in an engineering environment and I sometimes fear that we over-focus on STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics] subjects and miss that the arts are so important to us. I’d really like to get involved in Fun Palaces, which promote arts and culture at the heart of communities. Check out www.funpalaces.co.uk if you haven’t heard of them, and if you’d like to support a rail-themed Fun Palace, just let me know!” n

“I got into rail by accident, but I don’t think I’ll ever leave it”