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Insights
Transitioning to a career in the rail industry
Responsible for the safety and productivity of the team who maintain approximately 2,100 coal wagons that service some of the world’s largest coal miners, Belinda’s story highlights that you don’t need prior experience in the rail industry to have a rewarding career at Aurizon.
Before starting with us, Belinda served 16 years as a public servant primarily in public affairs type roles. She began her career as uniformed public affairs officer in the Australian Army, before transitioning to the Defence public service. After a number of years in Canberra, Belinda moved back to Queensland where she worked in communications for a government department before stepping into Ministerial officer roles, ending up as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Deputy Premier.
A move back home to Mackay saw Belinda take on a role as Maritime Safety’s Area Manager, which gave her strong experience in managing the team responsible for maritime infrastructure maintenance and ensuring compliance with safety management systems.
These broad range of skills set Belinda up for a successful career in operations at Aurizon. She joined the Company in January 2013 as a Yard Service Delivery Supervisor, and said it was a steep learning curve.
“I had no previous rail experience and had never heard of shunting, let alone understood it. I didn’t think I would find trains so interesting, but from the moment I saw all the inputs and all the challenges, I saw it as a very complicated puzzle to be solved.
“I still see it the same way but now I work in another part of the puzzle,” she said.
In her first role at Aurizon, Belinda managed one of five shunting teams at our Jilalan Depot, which is located south of Mackay. Her team consisted of nine employees who were responsible for executing the shunt plan tasks for each shift and setting up the tasks for the next shift.
Shunting involves moving parts of a train – locomotive and wagons – and connecting them safely to form a full train, or to take it apart when it comes into the yard, so it can be serviced or maintained. Having a team working so closely with moving rollingstock, Belinda was able to use her leadership skills and her strong understanding of the importance of safety and the systems that support a safe workplace.
Belinda was then appointed as Service Delivery Manager role at Jilalan, which was a big step up from her first role. Belinda said she was one of two managers with shared responsibility for approximately 80 train drivers and the team of about 30 shunters.
“With six direct reports, I was responsible for ensuring crew availability to meet train and yard requirements, ensuring compliance with key regulatory framework and internal requirements, managing finances and incident response and investigation.”
Eager to learn more about the rail industry puzzle, Belinda jumped at the opportunity to work in Melbourne as a Regional Operations Manager when Aurizon was running the Interstate Intermodal business.
With trains operating out of seven depots in five states and carrying different freight for many customers, she said it was a completely different rail operation what she was used to.
“In Central Queensland, while we were running many trains, they were for one customer at time and carrying one product, so it was definitely a learning experience for me. While I was able to bring all my operational experience to the role, I continued to grow skills on the commercial side by being heavily involved in service delivery changes and contract negotiations with customers.”
Belinda says she’s had a fantastic career at Aurizon, having moved back to Mackay two years ago to take up her current role as Regional Maintenance Superintendent, which she says she loves.
“My main responsibility is to ensure the safety and productivity of the Jilalan Wagon Maintenance Facility, which has around 45 people in the team and I have four direct reports. I work with the whole team on continuous improvement, starting with safety as a first priority, but also looking at process improvement and equipment and technology.
“My role also includes being the interface between the Wagon Maintenance Facility and a number of other critical parts of the business, to get the best integration and broader business outcomes required."
Belinda says wherever she has worked at Aurizon, she has met amazing and talented people who all have interesting jobs and it’s the people who make her work so enjoyable.
“For me, in every role, I have worked hard to get the people part right, because I believe the rest follows. Some days at work, from my office I can hear the maintainers singing, above the noise of the wagon maintaining which is a lot of noise! Those are my favourite days. And it’s not just the quality of the singing that makes me smile - although I do think we have a couple destined for stardom.”
Looking back to her original decision to join Aurizon, Belinda said because it had been a long time since she had worked in private enterprise she was worried there might be a values misalignment and an expectation to treat people differently to what she believed was right.
“I couldn’t imagine a more difficult personal conflict than that, however I could not have made a better choice in coming to Aurizon because I can be true to myself.
“Aurizon has a great people framework, and in leadership roles, I think it is essential that your values and that of your employer are complementary because the company’s values are the framework for leading people.”
Employer Information Sessions
If you’re interested in a career at Aurizon, we are holding Employer Information Sessions in Muswellbrook, Rockhampton, Mackay and Brisbane over the next month. You’ll need to express your interest by clicking on ‘Apply Now’ on the careers page of our website.
A move back home to Mackay saw Belinda take on a role as Maritime Safety’s Area Manager, which gave her strong experience in managing the team responsible for maritime infrastructure maintenance and ensuring compliance with safety management systems.
These broad range of skills set Belinda up for a successful career in operations at Aurizon. She joined the Company in January 2013 as a Yard Service Delivery Supervisor, and said it was a steep learning curve.
“I had no previous rail experience and had never heard of shunting, let alone understood it. I didn’t think I would find trains so interesting, but from the moment I saw all the inputs and all the challenges, I saw it as a very complicated puzzle to be solved.
“I still see it the same way but now I work in another part of the puzzle,” she said.
In her first role at Aurizon, Belinda managed one of five shunting teams at our Jilalan Depot, which is located south of Mackay. Her team consisted of nine employees who were responsible for executing the shunt plan tasks for each shift and setting up the tasks for the next shift.
Shunting involves moving parts of a train – locomotive and wagons – and connecting them safely to form a full train, or to take it apart when it comes into the yard, so it can be serviced or maintained. Having a team working so closely with moving rollingstock, Belinda was able to use her leadership skills and her strong understanding of the importance of safety and the systems that support a safe workplace.
Belinda was then appointed as Service Delivery Manager role at Jilalan, which was a big step up from her first role. Belinda said she was one of two managers with shared responsibility for approximately 80 train drivers and the team of about 30 shunters.
“With six direct reports, I was responsible for ensuring crew availability to meet train and yard requirements, ensuring compliance with key regulatory framework and internal requirements, managing finances and incident response and investigation.”
Eager to learn more about the rail industry puzzle, Belinda jumped at the opportunity to work in Melbourne as a Regional Operations Manager when Aurizon was running the Interstate Intermodal business.
With trains operating out of seven depots in five states and carrying different freight for many customers, she said it was a completely different rail operation what she was used to.
“In Central Queensland, while we were running many trains, they were for one customer at time and carrying one product, so it was definitely a learning experience for me. While I was able to bring all my operational experience to the role, I continued to grow skills on the commercial side by being heavily involved in service delivery changes and contract negotiations with customers.”
Belinda says she’s had a fantastic career at Aurizon, having moved back to Mackay two years ago to take up her current role as Regional Maintenance Superintendent, which she says she loves.
“My main responsibility is to ensure the safety and productivity of the Jilalan Wagon Maintenance Facility, which has around 45 people in the team and I have four direct reports. I work with the whole team on continuous improvement, starting with safety as a first priority, but also looking at process improvement and equipment and technology.
“My role also includes being the interface between the Wagon Maintenance Facility and a number of other critical parts of the business, to get the best integration and broader business outcomes required."
Belinda says wherever she has worked at Aurizon, she has met amazing and talented people who all have interesting jobs and it’s the people who make her work so enjoyable.
“For me, in every role, I have worked hard to get the people part right, because I believe the rest follows. Some days at work, from my office I can hear the maintainers singing, above the noise of the wagon maintaining which is a lot of noise! Those are my favourite days. And it’s not just the quality of the singing that makes me smile - although I do think we have a couple destined for stardom.”
Looking back to her original decision to join Aurizon, Belinda said because it had been a long time since she had worked in private enterprise she was worried there might be a values misalignment and an expectation to treat people differently to what she believed was right.
“I couldn’t imagine a more difficult personal conflict than that, however I could not have made a better choice in coming to Aurizon because I can be true to myself.
“Aurizon has a great people framework, and in leadership roles, I think it is essential that your values and that of your employer are complementary because the company’s values are the framework for leading people.”
Employer Information Sessions
If you’re interested in a career at Aurizon, we are holding Employer Information Sessions in Muswellbrook, Rockhampton, Mackay and Brisbane over the next month. You’ll need to express your interest by clicking on ‘Apply Now’ on the careers page of our website.