Andy Castledine is a professional and versatile transport professional with around 25 years’ hands-on experience spanning frontline operations through to executive leadership, strategy, and international consultancy. His career has given him a deep, practical understanding of how transport systems function day-to-day and how they must evolve to meet future operational, commercial, and digital challenges. While his formative years were spent in demanding operational roles, his recent work has focused on strategic advisory, business improvement, and the digitisation of transport operations in the UK and overseas.

He currently works as a Transport Markets Product Consultant, advising on business systems, market strategy, and the digital transformation of transport operations. This role draws directly on his operational background and extensive experience of rail industry structures, enabling him to bridge the gap between operational reality, technology-enabled solutions, and commercial propositions for complex transport markets.

His early career was built in frontline and line-management roles, including leading a control office, managing a traincrew depot, and running a major station. These roles developed his management and leadership skills in a real time operational delivery environment which required performance oversight, safety management, and workforce engagement. He has since worked extensively across the UK rail industry, engaging with most major owning groups and their subsidiaries, the Operator of Last Resort, the Rail Regulator, and industry bodies, as well as delivering targeted advisory and consultancy assignments internationally.

He has led or supported high-profile assignments including franchise and concession bid support, independent operational assurance, workforce reform and resource optimisation, regulatory performance reviews, and national timetable and operational strategy development. Highlights include leading rail operations planning for a new railway delivering workforce efficiencies at a UK train operator, acting as technical advisor to the Office of Rail and Road, and supporting international tenders and operational readiness projects in New Zealand and Australia.

His international experience includes responding to overseas franchise bids, developing technology deployment plans, operational performance improvement plans, new business concepts, and undertaking timetable, capacity, and resource strategy work within multi-disciplinary teams.

His expertise spans business systems, operational strategy, timetable and capacity development, control and service recovery, manpower planning, trade union engagement, performance management, and business development.

Alongside his day job, he is a programme tutor for professional rail operations qualifications, a published author in transport industry journals and he undertakes a pro bono role as a trustee of the Railway Mission Charity.