Rebecca Pickering

In her own words

My background spans operations and commercial disciplines in the energy industry as well as big chunks of my career spent working on incredible mega projects. When working for Origin Energy developing a huge coal seam gas to LNG project, I worked on securing environmental approvals, community engagement, and property acquisitions - basically everything you need to allow construction to start and that was a phenomenal experience. It led to me joining the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) in the early days of the Inland Rail Program when they were facing similar challenges in getting upfront approvals. It was great to apply my skills and experience gained in the energy industry to a major piece of transport infrastructure – a chance for me to learn about a whole new industry and get excited about how Inland Rail will create a renaissance for freight rail through providing a more sustainable way to move goods around Australia. 

The complexity of mega projects is the constant. On the Inland Rail Program, we are building a large piece of transport infrastructure while simultaneously minimising impacts. It is important to build an internal culture to listen and talk with the community, explain decisions, and acknowledge it is a tough journey for those people directly impacted by the project.  

Inland Rail is a freight rail line that is going to help meet the social expectations of an almost instantaneous movement of goods around the country. Freight is part of the supply chain everyone takes for granted when it is working well, and products are on the supermarket shelves. People don’t think of what is happening behind the scenes. A lot of people weren’t aware that trains kept everything going during the initial COVID lockdowns when trucks were stuck at state borders. Trains were allowed to keep going – moving high volumes of freight but requiring very few people to move across borders. 

If we fast forward a few years, the greater interconnectivity of freight between capitals is going to open options of how people shop online, as well as where they can base their businesses and still be relatively close to their markets. It’s going to catalyse a whole host of opportunities commercially for businesses – particularly in regional areas. 

Drawing in new talent

I admit I joined the transport sector with a bit of trepidation. I had come from energy - a vibrant market I had been part of for a couple of decades. To move into transport was different but I really got to love it very quickly. I am passionate about the Inland Rail project and how it is transforming the way freight is moved around Australia. The opportunities it’s bringing to regional Australia is incredibly exciting. 

In my work, I love the variety. I love the discussions we have around sustainability, how are we contributing to our community, society, and economy, and how we are doing it with an ever decreasing environmental and social impact footprint. As Chief Executive I am in a fortunate position where I get to see and do a bit of everything, from empowering our engineers to solve technical dilemmas, to being involved in the commercial negotiations and decisions, as well as the launch of our STEM programs in schools.  

I do think we have a challenge to attract and retain women into the industry. We will have to think smarter about the roles we create and how we showcase the range of interesting opportunities, from engineers to social sciences. There is a good network of women in transport and momentum is continuing to build. As an industry, we need to provide what any woman or man expects of an employer of choice and that includes appropriate diversity and the level of flexibility that we have all come to want and expect these days. I don’t think transport is lagging in these areas, but we do need to keep pace or lead if we see change is needed. 

We have a partnerships to run STEM programs in schools along the alignment to raise awareness among school-age kids, particularly young girls of opportunities in the rail and broader transport and infrastructure industry. The program involves access to our staff, mentoring, and career discussions including what subjects need to be studied. It’s something I want our industry to do more of – to identify more apprentices and opportunities to draw people into the sector and find a home here. 

Cast aside preconceptions 

I tell people considering joining the transport and infrastructure industry to cast aside any preconceptions that it is a stale or boring industry. I will be honest that I made an assumption that it would be a bit slower and less sexy than the energy industry, but that is ultimately not my experience at all. For me the vision of where the transport industry is going is what is exciting. There is so much change happening in transport, and it plays such an incredible part of our day to day lives that it is easy to get engaged in it. 

With the massive investment every year by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments into infrastructure, it should have a higher profile as an attractive place for people to spend a large amount of their career to learn and grow. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars are committed to transport infrastructure projects in Australia. If that doesn’t say ‘I should check that out for my career’ then I don’t know what will!