Kamini Edgley, engineer, saves Network Rail millions!

Recently Judith David of Working Woman talked to Kamini Edgely, engineer and high profile businesswoman. Read her amazing story below…

Imagine managing 150 men and budgets of more than £25million? That's all in a day's work for Kamini Edgley, a high profile businesswoman and inspirational female engineer.

The 36-year old has played a key role in Network Rail's massive £9billion, 10 year project to improve the West Coast Main Line (WCML) - the key route linking London with cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. This major engineering project has brought considerable benefits to passengers, with significantly more and faster trains.

Kamini left her home country Mauritius in 1992 to study engineering at Leeds University, encouraged to follow her engineering dream by her father, who at the time was the assistant commissioner of police. After graduating she embarked on what has been a remarkable career in the railway industry that has spanned more than 10 years - and she is still in her mid-thirties!

Kamini was in charge of a whopping £25million budget for the modernisation of signals in the Milton Keynes area (of the WCML) meaning additional and more reliable services, managed 150 male engineers and saved Network Rail millions by delivering projects on time and under budget. She is one of the company's high performers and is currently managing and coordinating 17 projects to deliver efficient infrastructure.

One of Kamini's biggest achievements was when, at only 26, she led the signal maintenance for the three areas upgraded as part of the West Coast Main Line project, ensuring that infrastructure was safe and fully operational. She managed 60 staff and a budget of £10million - this was a huge accomplishment as the role had previously always been held by men much later on in their careers.

The WCML upgrade has been one of the biggest engineering feats ever accomplished in Europe. Kamini led the accident and incident investigations on much of the 1,660 miles of new track laid meaning a trip from London to Manchester now takes less than two hours. She was also responsible for increasing the speed that trains can travel from Euston to Nuneaton from 75mph to 90mph - which means less time commuting and more time to spend at your leisure.

She said of the role: "It took a long time for me to gain respect as a young female engineer in charge of that many male engineers. I'm a woman in a typically male role but I'm not daunted. I come from a highly motivated family who installed in me a sense of ambition and faith in myself that I could achieve anything."

Kamini, who lives with her husband in Milton Keynes, copes with her high profile, high pressure by staying calm and relaxed.

"I am focused and driven in achieving my objectives. My success to date is due to my ability to take a holistic approach to problem solving and delivering goals. "I commute from Milton Keynes to London every day for work and it is brilliant to see the fruits of my labour! I oversaw the redevelopment of the station - which included new platforms for the growing number of passengers."