The Rail Supply Chain Forum 2026 will bring together senior leaders from Network Rail, Anglia Railway, DfT Operator Limited and Jacobs on Tuesday 10 November 2026 in London.
Produced by the Operational Risk Council, the forum will examine how rail organisations can improve integration, organisational readiness, supplier accountability and operational performance across increasingly complex delivery ecosystems.
The central question is clear:
How can rail organisations operate successfully when responsibility for infrastructure, technology, engineering, fleet, maintenance and service delivery is distributed across multiple organisations and suppliers?
Confirmed speakers
The confirmed speaker faculty includes:
Robert Cairns, Major Investments & Capital Transformation Director, Network Rail
Natalie Allen, Strategy and Change Director, Anglia Railway
Laura Heath, Integration Lead, DfT Operator Limited
Ivan Lucic, Senior Director of Integrated Systems and Global Principal – Systems Thinking and Assurance, Jacobs
Together, they bring leadership perspectives spanning major investment, railway transformation, operator integration, organisational change, systems thinking and engineering assurance.
Their participation reflects the purpose of the Rail Supply Chain Forum 2026: to move the supply-chain conversation beyond procurement and examine how decisions made across organisational boundaries affect operational readiness, resilience, accountability and railway performance.
Operating Railways Through Complex Supplier Ecosystems
Modern railways depend on infrastructure managers, train operators, rolling-stock manufacturers, engineering partners, maintainers, systems integrators, technology providers and specialist suppliers.
No single organisation delivers the operational railway alone.
As these relationships become more interconnected, responsibility can become fragmented. Commercial decisions, technical interfaces, programme dependencies and readiness risks frequently sit across several organisations.
The forum will explore how the industry can create stronger alignment between strategic ambition, supplier capability, programme delivery and operational reality.
Agenda themes will include:
Supplier integration and shared accountability
Track, train and operator integration
Organisational readiness and maturity
Systems integration and engineering assurance
Procurement decisions that create operational risk
Fleet introduction and transition into service
Supply-chain visibility and commercial alignment
Asset reliability, obsolescence and whole-life performance
Digital transformation and third-party operational risk
From Strategic Vision to Supply-Chain Readiness
Robert Cairns, Major Investments & Capital Transformation Director at Network Rail, will examine how the rail supply chain can be better prepared for the sector’s future direction.
His session, “From Vision to Delivery: Bringing the Rail Supply Chain Up to Speed,” will consider whether suppliers have sufficient visibility of the railway’s strategic journey and the capabilities they will need to develop.
The discussion will address the gap between high-level industry ambition and the practical information suppliers require to invest, plan, innovate and prepare for future delivery.
Robert will also facilitate a leadership roundtable focused on moving from strategic vision to genuine supply-chain readiness.
Turning Rail Reform into Operational Reality
Laura Heath, Integration Lead at DfT Operator Limited, will explore what track-and-train integration must look like in practice.
Her session will examine how infrastructure organisations, train operators, delivery partners and suppliers will need to work differently as the railway moves towards a more integrated model.
The discussion will consider how the sector can reduce friction, strengthen decision-making and improve coordination across the wider supply chain.
Laura will also contribute to a leadership roundtable with Natalie Allen on translating rail reform and integrated working into practical delivery.
Building the Integrated Railway
Natalie Allen, Strategy and Change Director at Anglia Railway, will address the organisational dimension of railway integration.
Her session, “Building the Integrated Railway: Strategy, Change and Organisational Readiness,” will explore why rail reform cannot be treated solely as a structural or commercial exercise.
Successful integration will require new behaviours, stronger leadership capability, clearer shared priorities and more effective ways of working across traditional organisational boundaries.
The session will also consider why suppliers and delivery partners must be included throughout the change journey, rather than only after major decisions have already been made.
Strengthening Systems Integration and Assurance
Ivan Lucic, Senior Director of Integrated Systems and Global Principal – Systems Thinking and Assurance at Jacobs, will bring a systems perspective to the challenge of operating across complex delivery environments.
His contribution will support the forum’s focus on systems integration, engineering assurance and operational readiness where assets, infrastructure, technology and operational interfaces are delivered by multiple organisations.
These challenges are becoming increasingly important as railway programmes combine long-life physical assets with software, digital systems, communications technology and interconnected supplier-delivered components.
Why Good Rail Programmes Still Fail
One of the forum’s central executive discussions will ask:
Why do apparently well-designed rail programmes still fail to produce their intended operational outcomes?
The discussion will examine recurring causes including fragmented ownership, misaligned commercial incentives, poorly managed interfaces, late operational involvement, incomplete readiness planning and capability gaps across clients and suppliers.
The objective is not simply to identify familiar problems, but to establish what railway leaders can practically do differently.
Throughout the day, delegates will participate in facilitated leadership roundtables addressing integration, supplier performance, asset reliability, engineering assurance, operational readiness and shared accountability.
The findings will be reported back to the wider forum, creating a practical cross-industry discussion rather than a conventional sequence of presentations.
A Senior Leadership Forum for the Whole Rail Ecosystem
The Rail Supply Chain Forum 2026 is designed for senior professionals responsible for delivering, maintaining, procuring, integrating and operating modern railway systems and infrastructure.
It will bring together rail operators, infrastructure managers, government organisations, major programme leaders, manufacturers, engineering partners, maintainers, technology providers and the wider supplier community.
Further speaker announcements will follow as the Operational Risk Council continues to build a senior, cross-industry faculty.
The Rail Supply Chain Forum 2026 takes place on Tuesday 10 November 2026 in London, United Kingdom.
The event is produced by the Operational Risk Council, a peer-led industry forum operated by IoE Events Ltd, the organisation behind Cyber Senate and the Rail Cybersecurity Summit.
