Eileen Russell

Principal Consultant at Ricardo Rail UK Ltd

Eileen Russell is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. Eileen has 20 years of experience in engineering, predominately in the railway industry, since graduating from the University of Strathclyde in 2000 with a Masters degree in Product Design Engineering. 

Eileen is currently a Principal Consultant with Ricardo Rail UK Ltd, supporting a wide range of consultancy projects in the railway in safety management, asset management, and performance improvement. For almost 10 years of her career, Eileen has managed the reliability of rolling stock fleets, managed maintenance regimes, safety and standards, overseen technical modifications and upgrades to fleets and improvements to engineering policy and processes. As Head of Engineering at ScotRail and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (Glasgow Subway), Eileen led engineering teams to deliver the day-to-day service for passengers, ensuring railway assets were reliable and safe. 

In addition, Eileen was also responsible for the skills development of the maintenance and engineering workforce including the introduction of the SPT Subway Apprenticeship programme and leading Graduate development and summer student placement schemes. Eileen is passionate about improving diversity and inclusion in STEM and is a Mentor for developing engineers with IMechE and Women in Rail mentoring programmes.