CIO interview Simon Goodman keeps modernization of Network Rail on track

When the UK’s Parliament passes the Railways Bill, infrastructure organization Network Rail will be central to one of the largest changes in British transportation for over 30 years. Group CIO Simon Goodman has been with Network Rail for 23 years, CIO for over three years and as we meet, is preparing for a locomotive load of integration and modernization as all elements of UK rail become a single entity.

The Railways Bill matters to this story and to the UK, as it brings to an end the structure where the rail infrastructure and the rail operating companies are separate entities. Network Rail, Goodman’s current employer, operates what the CIO describes as everything that doesn’t move on the railways, such as tracks, signals and buildings. The trains using that infrastructure are run by separate companies. That division was created by the privatization of this critical national infrastructure by ...