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ROLLING STOCK & DEPOTS
TopGear MALCOM DOBELL
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ambit Banerjee took over as managing director of Siemens Mobility’s rolling stock and customer services business on 1 November 2019. Just a couple of months seventh-floor later, Rail Engineer met him in his seventh-fl oor office, fine offi ce, which has a fi ne view of Euston Station, to find fi nd out more about his career to date, his current challenges and his ambitions for the business. qualified Many years ago, a young Sambit Banerjee qualifi ed as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse in India and, following his exams, joined Siemens India at Kolkata in 1992, working in the low/medium voltage switchgear division. This was followed by stints in the office regional sales offi ce in Kolkata before a move to Munich finance for 15 months as a trainee in corporate fi nance and treasury in 1996. On his return to India, Sambit worked as head of corporate accounts for Siemens India at Mumbai. In 2001, he left Siemens and joined The Times of finance India group as vice president of fi nance and he then financial officer became chief fi nancial offi cer of a joint venture between The Times of India and BBC Publications that saw BBC magazines such as Top Gear and Good Food launched in India. “Allowing foreign media into India was very challenging at the time,” he recalled. In 2005, Sambit re-joined Siemens, once again at the company’s Munich headquarters working in corporate finance fi nance and treasury. In 2006, he moved to the UK, becoming responsible for the IT business for North West Europe and, after that, into the logistics and airports business, where he was responsible for the Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 baggage system, Gatwick Airport modernisation and parcels systems for the Royal Mail. His move into rail came in 2013, when he joined the finance rolling stock and customer services business as fi nance director, followed by promotion to his current role of managing director in 2019.
Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020
Management role Sambit is very clear that a major part of his day-today role as managing director is to ensure the health influenced and safety of everyone infl uenced by his company - employees, customers and passengers. He is clearly also passionate about quality and, while stressing the importance of availability, he emphasised the importance of “not pushing out a train if in doubt”. “Trains that don’t break down and look good are key to passenger perception,” he stated, “and, as Siemens Mobility is a key partner of train operators, we accept our share of the responsibility for performance.” He naturally also has an eye to the future. Sambit was delighted that HS2 has received the go-ahead, along with indications of the same for Northern Powerhouse Rail. Whilst he could not talk about rolling stock for HS2, as the tendering process is underway, he could discuss the many products and services that Siemens Mobility can provide to the project, including signalling, electrification, electrifi cation, electrical distribution, power generation and intelligent buildings. So far as the conventional network goes, he is hoping the output of the Williams review will lead to a clear steer on franchising, with enough clarity to allow suppliers to plan ahead.
