29 Jun 2026

Horizons 7 concludes with third forum in Sydney

Last week the Horizons 7 cohort blew the judging panel away with their depth of understanding and the quality of both the presentations and reports.

After successful forums in Melbourne and Brisbane, high-potential technical, operational and safety rail professionals from across Australia’s rail industry came together in Sydney from 24-27 June for the third and final forum.

Participants attended workshops, heard from industry leaders, explored emerging challenges and opportunities facing rail, visited the Sydney Metro Operations and Maintenance Facility, and pitched their project to a panel of senior industry executives.

This year’s project focused on one of the most important issues facing Australian rail: how prioritising standard adoption can help create a safer, more productive and interoperable national rail system.

This year’s cohort set an even higher bar – click the links below to view and download the impressive reports from the project teams that provide recommendations for standards that should be prioritised for harmonisation:

Congratulations to the winning team Trackside Solution made up of Danielle Heatly (Sydney Trains), Reece Blaschek (Department of Transport, SA), Florent Hutin (Rio Tinto), Sunyuka Koyande (Arc Infrastructure) and Justin Wood (Aurizon) who made a compelling pitch to prioritise the harmonisation of trackside signage. Public Transport Authority (WA)’s Garry Taylor provided mentoring and guidance support to the team. 

The Trackside Solution team pointed out the financial burden involved with sourcing and transporting different signs for different networks on Protection Officers, as well as the negative impact on productivity that comes from the increased likelihood of Protection Officers arriving at worksites with the wrong signs that can lead to delayed or cancelled works.

The benefits of harmonised signs was made clear: reduced likelihood of wrong signs being erected, the opportunity to streamline and provide consistent training for rail safety workers and significant reduction in the risk of misinterpretation of signs by rail workers.

The judging panel for the project work included:

  • Alan Fedda, CEO – ARISO
  • Michael Hopkins, CEO – NTC
  • Dr Christian Christodoulou, a/Executive Director, Prioritisation & Asset Management – Transport for NSW
  • Matt Longland, CEO – Sydney Trains

And mentors who supported and guided each team were:

  • Ian Garrad, Director Rollingstock – Transport and Main Roads QLD 
  • Troy Sparkman, Executive General Manager – Downer
  • Candis Rhodes, Planning Manager Supply Chain Services and Asset Management – Rio Tinto
  • Helen Wilkinson, Director – PT&I
  • Dennis Lo, Treasurer RTAA & Professional Head of Corridor Infrastructure & Engineering – TfNSW
  • Garry Taylor, Executive Director Project Delivery – Public Transport Authority WA
  • Melanie Mackie, General Manager Technical Services & Assurance – ARTC