In the first of a two-part feature, Jonathan Welch speaks to CPT President and Blackpool Transport Managing Director Jane Cole, whose career in transport began with British Rail
In our last issue of 2021, we looked at the history of Blackpool Transport, which celebrated its centenary last year, despite the ongoing difficulties across the industry, with Managing Director and CPT President Jane Cole at the helm. We spoke to Jane about her time at Blackpool and her role with the CPT over the course of the pandemic.
Jane joined Blackpool Transport in 2014, but her career started on the railways in 1979. She joined British Rail’s signals and telecomms department, where she discovered a desire to get involved in the operational side of the business, resulting in her move to Blackpool North station in 1990 as its first female supervisor. Sectorisation of the railways saw Jane move to Intercity West Coast as an On Board Manager, before moving to Euston at privatisation as a Train Service Manager. Under the privatised Virgin West Coast, she became one of five regional managers, looking after services between Aberdeen and London. “I built up a real portfolio of skills,” she explained. “In 2014 I had the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy. I left on very good terms, and within two weeks I had this job. It’s been quite a seamless transition after working on the railways for so long to working on the buses, and suddenly I’ve already been here for seven years!”
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