Richard Harper

Richard is a Director at Steer and a respected industry leader with over 30 years’ experience driving change through collaboration. He delivers value for shareholders, public bodies and Authorities through developing, contracting, sponsoring and delivering complex change projects in the railway industry. His skills in assessing risks and blockers, alongside his strengths in communicating and negotiating, unlock solutions across industry interfaces.

At Steer, Richard leads a portfolio of rail projects. They include the award winning Manchester Recovery Task Force, which Richard has led since its inception three years ago, delivering high-performance solutions to the problems of May 2018’s timetable and unlocking DfT funding for a programme of incremental investment. Richard leads on operations and end state for DfT’s Project Representative team for HS2, delivering critical programme-wide assurance. He has directed operations, performance, service change and reform projects for Network Rail, DfT and operators.

Richard joined Steer after 17 years working for train operators and TOC owning groups. He gained extensive rail bidding experience in leadership roles, including Bid Director for Wales & Borders, and leading timetable and rolling stock teams for the successful Northern and London Overground bids in 2014/15. Richard was a key member of Chiltern Railways’ business development team, promoting and delivering the unique Evergreen enhancements, including the Oxford line.