Apeksha Naik
12 Dec 2025
Catch up on our RUI conference
Feeling so thankful to all the amazing people who joined our Rail Unites for Inclusion conference that we held today, during the 16 days of Activism and after White Ribbon Day on 25 November.
I felt really honoured to open the event with Ola Ogun from Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and to wrap up at the end with Jodie Pocock Assoc CIPD from Network Rail, Tracey Barber from London North Eastern Railway and Darren O’Brien MBE representing RDG and Women in Rail who committed to continue driving this work forward.
We collaborated with so many brilliant partners from across the industry, tagged into this post. The event also featured Pauline Holroyd and Elliott Judge from Network Rail, sharing some great work that they are doing in this space. We had 2 panel sessions - one with DFTO colleagues hosted by Tracey Barber with panellists - @Lou Mather from Northern, Rob Mullen from c2c Rail, Clare Caddick from London North Eastern Railway and Rupert Lown from @Department for Transport Operator. The other panel session was hosted by Jodie Pocock Assoc CIPD with internal and external partners Daniel Williamson, British Transport Police, Susan Bright, CEO of Employers' Initiative on Domestic Abuse, Polly Harrar from @Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant, Nicole Jennings, RDG and Darren O’Brien MBE, RDG and Women in Rail.
There was also a break-out session where we focused on topics such as Accountability, Adoption, Measures and Initiatives that could make a difference and those of us who facilitated those breakouts - Jodie, Tracey, Darren and I (supported in the online break out by Sonia Ahmed - thank you!) then did a wrap up session at the end of the event. I'm still reflecting on all the insightful things that the inspiring speakers said. I'm also feeling rest assured by what Darren said about driving this forward, knowing that more action will follow. Darren and Pauline helped us secure the Alchemmy as a venue for our event (thank you both) and a huge thank you to the Alchemmy team for their fantastic venue with beautiful views and their brilliant hospitality.
Thank you so much also to all those I've already mentioned and those who I'm tagging in below including those who worked hard behind the scenes and those who couldn't make it due to illness (we wish you a speedy recovery), it was really great to collaborate with you all. Photos from each of the sessions mentioned above are included below with Alt+ text descriptions. Ashley Marr, @Gemma Ryan Freya Horrocks, Uchenna Forjoe, Amy Dodd, Fiona Duenyas, Verity Palmer Jenna Trevillion Stacey Barraclough Sonia L Hazel Carter J Goodby Bea W. Hannah Raven Rebecca D. Abby Daly
Useful links from the session:
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) | National Rail
85% say Rail has role in tackling Violence against women and Girls: Industry sets out Safety Commit…
https://www.communityworks.org.uk/events/active-bystander-training/
DAC - Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant
Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men | Men's Advice Line UK
vodafone_domestic_violence_toolkit_2020.pdf
Domestic and sexual violence: AXA launches the Safe Spaces training to support victims | AXA
Notes from the session: