Overview

This webinar will discuss the All Island Strategic Rail Review and provide a project briefing on the development and outputs of the AISRR. Following a presentation from our speakers, there will be the opportunity for attendees to ask questions in a Q&A session. 

Who the event is for 

This event is open to all but will be of particular interest to rail Industry professionals and transport planning professionals.

Why you should attend 

• Gain insight from expert speakers
• Great CPD opportunity
• Take part in Q&A session
• Free to attend

Speakers 

Chris Birkett, Associate at Arup 

As the Advisory and Project Management Team lead for Arup in Belfast, Chris has responsibility for project commercial delivery of projects and will combine his technical knowledge/skills with broad project management and Commercial Management experience.

AISRR Role: Project Manager role leading a multi-disciplinary team to undertake a feasibility assessment of rail improvement, progressing high/higher speed rail, integration of PT, engineering feasibility and environmental constraints and economic impact.  The All Island Rail Strategy is a key Government commitment to plan and provide greater connectivity, enhanced regional opportunity, and a sustainable and resilient future. Both Governments are focused on all Ireland prosperity, and recognise the important role that the rail has to play in progressing towards this

Neil Montague, Senior Data Scientist at Arup 

Neil is a Senior Data Scientist with the City Modelling Lab in the London office. He combines his wealth of experience in transportation projects with a skillset in cutting-edge data analytics and visualisation to deliver innovative insights and solutions to a wide range of international clients.

AISRR Role: This project is a strategic assessment of the railway network throughout the island of Ireland. It investigates the potential role of rail in delivering objectives such as decarbonisation, enhanced regional connectivity, and balanced access to economic opportunity. Neil is both the co-leader of the Context and Policy workstream and a member of the Demand Forecasting and Solutions Development workstreams. 

He has had a key role in developing the analytical framework for the entire project, liaising with the client and key stakeholders, and coordinating the approach of all workstreams across the project. He has served as the key technical figure in stakeholder engagement sessions with government departments, local authorities, transport agencies, regional assemblies, and development agencies. He has been responsible for delivering the first work package of the study, presenting a comprehensive overview of the demographic, socio-economic, and transport contexts across Ireland and identifying the potential role of rail across key corridors. 

He has also played a major role on all subsequent work packages developing, analysing, and reporting on packages of interventions. He has led data analysis for the project, incorporating advanced geospatial and demographic analysis techniques using Python, FME, and ArcGIS to produce innovative insights.

John Collins, Associate Director at Arup 

John is a Chartered Transport Planner and Chartered Engineer, with extensive experience transport strategy, policy, planning, and project delivery. He is the Transport Strategy Lead for the CPD/Transport Planning South Region.

AISRR Role: John is currently supporting Arup in developing and prioritising projects that aim to enhance rail connectivity across the Island of Ireland. This complex project covers two international jurisdictions and is involves a high level of stakeholder engagement. John has helped develop a narrative for the Review, prioritise large scale interventions, and develop outline alignments and locations for potential new railways to boost connectivity across the Island. John is also the lead author for the Final Report for this Review.

We hope to also be joined by the client team, with representatives from Department of Transport (Ireland) and Department for Infrastructure (NI). This is to be confirmed. 

Help and support

This is an online event, by registering for this event you will receive an email containing the registration details to obtain the webinar link.  

For any queries or support, please contact regions@ciht.org.uk 

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