Rail: A gateway to the future Andrew McLean and David Taylor
Event details
As we celebrate 200 years of the modern railway, our expert speakers reveal how the spirit of invention and innovation of rail’s early pioneers lives on, driving a new future.
What will the next generation rail transport look like? How will it contribute to a sustainable future? What can we learn from European rail transport innovation and investment?
Our speakers include Andrew McLean, Assistant Director and Head Curator at the National Railway Museum, and David Taylor, Account Director Mainline Rail at Hitachi Rail.
Join in the conversation as we discuss rail travel from a technological, environmental and customer perspective and time travel 200 years into the future...
This event is part of the Festival Focus ‘Beyond the Tracks: Innovation and transformation’ presented in collaboration with LNER. You may also be interested in ‘Transforming York: Rail’s legacy’ and ‘York: A 21st-century rail hub’ taking place the same day.
Railway 200
2025 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway. Find out about Railway 200 and LNER’s involvement.
About the speakers
Andrew McLean is the Assistant Director and Head Curator at the National Railway Museum in York, heading up the Museum’s Collections and Research department. He is also a member of the Institute of Railway Studies and the Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board. An Edinburgh University graduate, Andrew has a background in architectural, landscape and design history and is particularly interested in the areas of design and function. After growing up in a railway household, he commenced his curatorial career in the distilling industry, before moving to the Marquess of Bute's home at Mount Stuart, then the National Trust in the northeast of England before joining the National Railway Museum in 2014. He is the author of The Flying Scotsman: Speed, Style, Service (Scala, 2016).
David Taylor is the Account Director Mainline Rail at Hitachi Rail where he is responsible for developing long-term strategic relationships with key industry bodies, such as Network Rail, London St Pancras High Speed, HS2, Train and Freight Operators. As an Account Director, he has successfully led several campaigns from inception to programme delivery, such as Darwin, Intelligent Infrastructure, and Traffic Management, which have improved the services and information delivered to passengers and freight companies. David is also a Fellow of the Institute of Railway Signal Engineers, and a co-author of a report on embedding innovation in Transport for the North, migration to the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) and what can rail learn from aerospace (2003). His mission is to drive innovation and collaboration in the UK mainline rail sector, and to empower and support the operators to deliver a more consistent, proactive, and improved service to both customers and freight companies.
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