Track and operations at London Paddington station, the UK’s third-busiest terminus, are being brought together under common leadership.

The operations at the station previously divided between Great Western Railway and Network Rail have been merged, with Lauren Clancy appointed to the newly created role of Integrated Station Lead.

During the last 12 months, the two organisations have brought together their Control function and their route and access strategy teams. These have evolved from a formal alliance originally agreed in 2016, and Paddington is now the first station managed by Network Rail to integrate its leadership team with a Train Operating Company.

Lauren comes to Paddington from Station Manager posts at St Pancras International and Stratford stations in London, and Ebbsfleet in Kent. More recently, in a collaboration between Network Rail, c2c and Greater Anglia, she has led integration programmes between track and railway stations for Anglia Railway.

In her new role, Lauren will report jointly to James Adeshiyan, the Great Western Railway’s Head of Stations, and Susan Evan, Network Rail’s Head of Passenger Strategy (Western).

“As a programme manager in the Anglia route, I led on complex vertical track and train integration programmes across NR, TOCs and TfL and took pride in bringing structure, clarity and pace to environments where collaboration and integration are essential. While my time in Anglia was excellent, I’m beyond excited to get back into stations and lead us into a truly integrated railway. It’s a really exciting time for the industry, and to be at the forefront of a once-in-a-generation change like this is brilliant.”

Lauren Clancy

Paddington was in the news recently for a much more mundane reason when it won the “Loo of the Year Award” for ‘Best Railway Toilets in Britain’.

“This is one of many changes we’re already working with Network Rail to deliver, and I’m delighted to have Lauren on board. “This appointment is about efficiency, opportunity for simplicity of structure and stronger focus on the customer. It helps us to think about how we use the space at the station to drive better commercial and customer outcomes. We don’t have to wait for Great British Railways to achieve change, and we don’t need to wait until we are in the public sector – we can get on and do things today.”

Mark Hopwood, GWR Managing Director