Muslims in Rail
Inspiring Muslims to seek a career in the rail industry Nasir Khan MBE on the need to move beyond mission statements, policies and strategies to make inclusion a reality
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ritish Muslims face universal barriers to employment and the rail sector is no different. Muslims in Rail (MIR) believe prejudice is a contributor as to why unemployment rates among Muslims generally are more than double that of any other community in the UK. However, the railway is an industry trying to change that, and among those leading those efforts is Nasir Khan MBE, recently recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his pledge to improve diversity in rail. “My experience of working in the rail and construction industry has been fantastic,” said the Director at global consultancy, Currie & Brown. “Although I have witnessed prejudice first-hand, I have seen it tackled in an impressive way. “As a first-generation immigrant in the UK, coming from Pakistan where I was the majority, the scenario here was different. For the first time in my life I was a minority with people around me who did not understand why I did certain things. “I was asked questions such as ‘What, prayers again?’, ‘Why are you not eating pork?’, ‘Is fasting a punishment since you can’t eat all month?’, ‘Why can’t you drink or go to the pub with us?’ and even when I was married I was asked ‘When
and strategies. There is a greater need to develop certain plan of actions that make inclusion a reality.” Nasir is an experienced end-to-end commercial professional with added engineering, procurement project management, business and legal qualifications. He is currently a Director at Currie & Brown, a global consultancy where he leads procurement advisory, commercial claims and dispute resolutions. “There was always something that wanted me to serve in the rail industry despite being the survivor of a fatal crash in Pakistan,” he said. “12 years on from that experience I was working on the Manchester Metrolink and when I was offered an opportunity to work for Network Rail leading their buildings and civils commercial strategy, it was an opportunity and personal satisfaction that I could not have said no to.”
are the next three?’ Luckily I had stock answers for all the questions. “The rail industry is one of the most diverse in the UK because it serves every region and every community. I think though that we do need to move beyond mission statements, policies
Prestige projects Nasir continued: “Now, working for a consultancy, I am utilising my 20 years of experience to improve efficiency and generate value for money. My current commissions are on some of the most prestigious projects in the world with HS2, major rail upgrade programmes with Network Rail and
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32 | January 2021
railbusinessdaily.com
