ABOUT US

WPA is a specialised management consultancy established in 1999 by Keith Winder and Richard Phillips with the aim of providing clients with high quality rail operations advice and practical solutions based on good practice. In this time, we have worked in every part of the rail industry in the United Kingdom and we have also undertaken some major international commissions. Our extensive list of satisfied clients reflects this breadth of engagement in helping to deliver focused operational improvements.

Applying our partners’ extensive expertise for the benefit of our clients has always been a core WPA principle and as new partners have joined it is now even more powerful. We are proud that this remains our key strength to this day.

The founding partners have extensive combined experience of rail operations management, in line management, at senior Director level and in Professional Head roles in the UK. Phil Dargue joined WPA in 2006, bringing a wealth of experience in operations, performance, safety, and train planning. Phil was most recently a Senior Consultant at AEA Technology Rail (now DeltaRail), and has previous experience with Railtrack and BR prior to privatisation.

Matt Ablett joined WPA in 2008 after 10 years at AEA Technology Rail / DeltaRail, to provide data analysis, modelling and operational research expertise. Matt is an acknowledged industry expert in the areas of performance analysis and revenue allocation, and has enabled WPA to expand the services now offered to cover most aspects of rail businesses.

Nigel Murphy joined WPA in 2015. Previously International Director at Atkins, his extensive experience in rail and mass transit operations, system safety, performance, bidding, transaction and diligence work has been gained through international projects in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific and builds on his extensive UK career with Railtrack, a Franchised TOC and British Rail.

Steve Curtis joined WPA in 2016 as a principal consultant, bringing a detailed understanding of the commercial and operational interdependencies faced by the railway. Steve has a sound understanding of the principles behind demand and revenue forecasting and the use of PDFH, and he is an industry expert in crowding modelling with in depth knowledge of MOIRA and MOIRA2.

Anna-jane Hunter joined WPA in 2020. She is a Rail Operations Professional with an expertise in complex stakeholder relations. Having led teams in Network Rail, Train Operating Companies, and as part of multi-agency industry groups she has a wealth of experience. With her straightforward and collaborative approach, she has pragmatically followed a system engineering approach, focussing on the operational integration of new and old rail systems.

Rebecca Freeman also joined WPA in 2020, bringing extensive operational experience gained from leading teams within Train Operating Companies. She has a wealth of experience of the operational planning of timetables and resource plans for new services, new timetables and new rolling stock fleets, as well developing and implementing Operations and Workforce strategies, Operational Projects, Performance Improvement Plans, Operational Readiness Assurance and Performance and Access Regimes.

We have built our business by always focusing on what is right for our clients. Our approach to every project is based on our guiding Values and Principles.

Client Satisfaction – Over 80% of the work we undertake is repeat business from satisfied clients. We are proud of this and are firmly focused on achieving the best outcomes for our clients in everything we do.
Trust and Integrity – We all have extensive hands-on experience in our areas of expertise. This ensures the advice we give is impartial and the solutions we propose are sound, practical and dependable - providing you with confidence.
Teamwork – We relish working with and within teams to deliver integrated and sustainable benefits across supply chains. Enthusing teams with our passion for excellence is one of our key aims in all projects.
Continuous Improvement – Measurement, assessment and learning focus our drive for continuous improvement. There are always better ways of doing things and the identification, development and introduction of international good practice lies at the heart of what we deliver.
Value – as a Partnership with low overheads and a highly efficient approach to meeting client’s requirements, we can add value to any business in a very cost effective way.