10 MINUTES 10 QUESTIONS
In the first of a new series of ‘quick-fire’ interviews, Steven Knight puts Rail Operations Group’s Neil Bennett under the spotlight.
NEIL is currently chairman (part-time) of Rail Operations Group in the UK and chairman (part-time) of Nexrail Leasing (a locomotive lessor) on the continent.
He has been in the rail industry since 1981 and held a number of senior engineering and commercial roles in both British Rail and subsequently with train lessors Eversholt, Porterbrook and CBRail. He founded the leasing company Beacon Rail in 2007, where he remained as chief operating officer until retirement in 2019. Neil then became a consultant for a short time before taking up the chairman roles he currently holds.
Q. What was your first-ever job?
Technician apprentice in British Rail’s Southern Region Mechanical and Electrical Engineering department.
Q. Were you interested in railways before you joined the rail industry?
Yes, a life-long interest in railways and model railways.
Q. What attracted you to your current role?
Retirement never really appealed to me and the chairman role(s) enable me to use my 41 years of railway experience to help guide the company through new challenges.
Q. What has been your biggest achievement?
Founding and setting up Beacon Rail in 2007. It has grown from just me and a clean sheet of paper to one of the main train lessors in the UK and on the continent.
Q. …and the low point of your railway career?
This goes right back to day one (actually before day one) when my terrible A-level results meant I could not take up the graduate scheme opportunity, and university sponsorship, that British Rail had offered me. However, that led to me accepting the technician apprentice post and I have never looked back. I was somebody destined to succeed from an apprenticeship.
Q. If you were Transport Secretary for a day, what would you do to support or change the industry?
I would wave a magic wand and approve a large number of electrification schemes such as the Felixstowe branch (for freight), East West Rail, and numerous other fill-in schemes.
Q. How do you relax away from work?
We enjoy travel, photography and exploring historic sites of interest from prehistory to industrial revolution locations.
Q. What is your view on the current state of the railway industry?
The industry needs to change. It is no longer a commuter-led railway and needs to focus on leisure and discretionary travel, attracting people away from cars and, more importantly in my view, freight away from lorries.
Q. …and where do you see the industry in 2050?
I am an optimist, so I see a well-used high-quality passenger railway alongside a highly efficient freight sector that has captured all long-haul freight business, whether it be containers, bulk products, or high value parcels traffic.
Q. Finally, is there something about you that you can share with us that our readers are unlikely to know?
I guess the only thing I will admit to is that we got married at the Bluebell Railway and our wedding reception was a Murder Mystery trip on board a steam hauled train on the line.