Meet this Digital Rail 2022 speaker: Richard Schofield

Richard Schofield is Group Infrastructure Director at MTR UK and will be speaking at Global Railway Review’s Digital Rail 2022 event on 7 & 8 November at London’s Twickenham Stadium. Watch this short video to hear from Richard about his involvement and what he is set to cover during his presentation.

MTR is as a recognised global operator of sustainable rail transport services with exceptional operational experience (including the newly-opened Elizabeth line on behalf of Transport for London).

Drawing on his extensive experience including playing a significant role on the Crossrail project for the past four years, at Digital Rail 2022 Richard will explore the following key questions:

• With digitalisation now across every aspect of the railway, from construction to operating and in almost every asset, have we gone too far given the complexities of integration?
• Does all of the digitalisation really deliver customer/operator benefits?
• How do we achieve the optimum balance to deliver a safe, reliable and efficient railway?

Crossrail, now the very successful Elizabeth line, is in the process of transforming journeys across London, but it opened over three years late and overran significantly on cost. What can we learn from that and apply to future projects?  Richard will also discuss:

• Under-estimating complexity and therefore the time to integrate, test and bring into use
• Cycle times for software updates and interdependencies between systems
• The benefits of an off-line integration facility
• What future project teams look like.

Richard Schofield has extensive experience in UK railway operations and major projects. Previously serving as Head of Civil Engineering for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (subsequently High Speed 1), Richard took it from construction to operation, then ran it as Network Rail General Manager for five years. Following HS1, as Director of Asset Management, then Route Managing Director for Network Rail on the Anglia route, Richard led delivery of rail transport infrastructure for Stratford at the 2012 Olympics. As MTR Elizabeth line’s Programme Director from 2017, Richard contributed to the wider Crossrail project as Chair of the Trial Running Mobilisation Board. In 2021, Richard became MTR UK’s Infrastructure Director, responsible for developing MTR’s rail infrastructure capability. He led MTREL’s support of the Crossrail project’s final critical stages, including the opening of the central section of the Elizabeth line.