Sarah Kelley has been appointed General Manager of Operations at Metro Trains Melbourne, commencing her role at the start of January.

Sarah joins Metro as an effective and experienced transport leader with a diverse, global career spanning over 25 years in rail and light rail management.

Starting her career in rail as a stewardess for Intercity Railway in the United Kingdom, Sarah has worked in varied customer service and operational functions, including depots, stations, infrastructure maintenance and operations control.

She brings a wealth of knowledge in day-of service running and performance, and has a strong background in safety compliance, incident management, network asset integration and delivering on strategic partnerships.

Over the past 15 years, Sarah has held numerous operations leadership roles working across the United Kingdom’s expansive and complex rail networks where she has left an indelible mark.

From 2017 to 2020, Sarah was Head of Strategic Command for Arriva London, responsible for the smooth running of the Transport for London overground rail network, transporting more than 180 million passengers across nine lines every year.

She was then promoted to Regional Director (South and West) for CrossCountry Rail, who run long-distance rail services across England, Scotland and Wales, before moving to Australia in early 2022.

Sarah’s most recent role was as the General Manager at TorrensConnect, the tram and bus operator in Adelaide, Australia.

Here, Sarah oversaw the management of the business and franchise, consolidating the experiences she had gained over the years in customer service, rolling stock, infrastructure and operations.

As newly appointed General Manager of Operations at Metro, Sarah will focus her time out on the network to meet her team members and understand Melbourne’s unique metropolitan network and operational landscape.

“I have spent my first month getting a better understanding of Metro and the projects that are coming to help shape our operational strategy for the next couple of years.”

Sarah is known for fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment in her teams of hundreds of employees.

“I try to create an environment where everyone is welcome to be themselves and they are given the space to be heard.”

“It would be easy to have only like-minded people in your team, but the challenge is to create a diverse environment where different approaches and opinions are celebrated and embraced,” explained Sarah.

Sarah is an experienced, collaborative and people-focused leader, and we are proud to welcome her aboard.