Great Western Railway (GWR) and Network Rail Western are bringing the leadership of the flagship London Paddington station under a single team as part of a series of moves designed to bring track and train closer together for the benefit of customers.

Lauren Clancy has been appointed in the newly-created role of Integrated Station Lead, working across both GWR and Network Rail.

The appointment further underlines GWR and Network Rail’s commitment to working together to deliver change for the benefit of the customer as the industry moves towards public ownership.

In the past 12 months they have brought their Control functions together in a single, joint team, as well as uniting their route strategy teams and access strategy teams, building on a formal alliance agreement originally signed in 2016.

This is the first Network Rail-managed station to integrate a leadership team with a Train Operating Company and Lauren will oversee the running of the country’s third busiest terminus.

She has previously spent time as Station Manager at Stratford, Ebbsfleet, and St Pancras International stations – and has more recently led track and train station integration programmes across Anglia Railway, a collaboration between NR, c2c and Greater Anglia. 

Lauren said: “As a programme manager in Anglia route, I led on complex vertical track and train integration programmes across Network Rail, TOCs and Transport for London 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 will report jointly into GWR’s Head of Stations, James Adeshiyan, and NR’s Head of Passenger Strategy (Western), Susan Evans.

GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said: “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 help 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.”

Network Rail Head of Passenger Strategy (Western), Susan Evans, said: “We’re pleased that Lauren is coming on board at Paddington, bringing Network Rail and GWR together under a single, integrated station leadership.

“London Paddington is one of the busiest stations in the country, particularly since the introduction of the Elizabeth line, and this new way of working will put passengers first by removing organisational boundaries, enabling us to operate more efficiently and effectively.

“Lauren brings invaluable experience to this role, and we look forward to working together at the first managed station to adopt this integrated approach.”