A Cadet’s day with a Chief Executive

Ever wondered what a CE’s daily schedule looked like? Read more about Lexie’s experience with Howard Collins here.

Lexie Reynolds Walsh is a Civil Engineering Cadet based at the Hornsby Network Maintenance Base, working on Track Maintenance.

Meeting Sydney Trains CE, Howard Collins at a Sydney Trains Thrive event prompted her to step out of her comfort zone and pitch the idea of shadowing Howard for a day.

Civil Engineering Cadet, Lexie Reynolds Walsh with Sydney Trains CE, Howard Collins and Civil Team Manager, Damion Mason at Hornsby Network Maintenance Base

After 12 months of calendar co-ordination, Lexie recently completed her one-day shadowing experience on Wednesday 20 June.

What was the day like?

“We started pretty early…maybe 7am.”

First up was a CE’s breakfast that Howard regularly holds for staff across Sydney Trains Directorates.

Although Lexie was unable to sit-in at the next meeting with the Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance; she joined Howard afterwards for the unveiling of Sydney Trains’ new Burwood Activity Based Working (ABW) office.

Next was a celebration lunch with the Heritage team, responsible for the revamp of Wynyard station’s escalator displays.

“Then we went directly to another meeting at Lee Street about the Central precinct renewal project…They had executives from Transport and Sydney Trains.”

The final meeting of the day was with Stewart Mills, Sydney Trains Executive Director Engineering and Maintenance, “That was really interesting and relevant for me, since I’m placed in that Directorate.”

In reflection, what were the highlights of the day?

“Probably meeting all the people. It reminded me how big the cluster is, and how many opportunities there are.”

Did anything about Howard surprise you?

“He’s interested in heritage and vintage motorbikes. He told me that on the weekend he was at Waterfall with a vintage motorbike association, how people from all across NSW bring their cool old bikes and that made me laugh!”