2016 Max Michell

Individual Award 2016

THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2016 RTSA INDIVIDUAL AWARD IS MR. MAX MICHELL, DIRECTOR AND CONSULTANT FOR SAMROM PTY LTD, IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

The RTSA Individual Award recognises the outstanding contribution Mr Michell has made to rail industry in Australia and overseas during a career spaning more than 50 years.

Mr Michell’s career commenced with Victorian Railways and he has worked in a variety of operating environments, in senior management positions as well as consulting to Victorian Railways, Railways of Australia in Melbourne and the National Rail Corporation in Adelaide prior to going into business for himself in 1995 as a consultant via SAMROM Pty Ltd.
He specialises in train performance, capacity, scheduling and operational aspects of railway infrastructure, in particular integration of the disciplines required to successfully build and operate a rail system.

Notable projects that Mr Michell has worked on include:

  • Operational planning for the conversion of the Melbourne to Adelaide route to standard gauge
  • Development  of operating strategies and timetables for the opening of the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway
  • Strategic planning for the doubling  of the coal capacity on the Hunter Valley rail network to 165 mtpa
  • Initial strategic and operational planning for the proposed Brisbane to Melbourne Inland rail route

Mr Michell is  a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and a member of four professional railway engineering bodies, the RTSA – Railway Technical Society of Australasia, the RTAA – Rail Track Association of Australia, the PWI – Permanent Way Institution and an affiliate of the IRSE – Institution of Railway Signalling Engineers.

Mr Michell was Chairman of the Adelaide based RAIL 2000 group from 1998 to 2001, prior to it being incorporated into the RTSA. He then joined the SA Chapter of the RTSA and edited the monthly Newsletter before moving to NSW in 2002. He is the previous Editor of the monthly Newsletter of the NSW Chapter of RTSA.

Mr. Max Michell receiving the RTSA Individual Award from RTSA Executive Chair Graham Holden at the CORE Gala Dinner in 2016.