John Watsford – 2026 Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division

Citation: For service to the rail transport industry.

Railway Technical Society of Australasia
• Executive Chair, 2002-2004
• Deputy Executive Chair, 2000-2002.
• Committee Member, c. mid 2010s.
• Contributor, Conference on Railway Excellence, 2023.
• Chair, Technical Committee, Conference on Railway Excellence, c. mid-late 2010s.
• Member, Conference on Railway Excellence Committee, 2000-2002.
• Member, Forward Vision Task Force, 2002.
• Study Tour Coordinator, Railway Engineering, 2007, and 2012.
• Life Member, 2010.

Railway Technical Society of Australasia, New South Wales Chapter
• Secretary, since 2009.
• Chair, c. 2010s.
• Founding Committee Member, since 1998.
• Chair, Sydney Chapter, 2000-2002.

Australasian Railway Association
• Member, AusRail Conference Steering Committee, current.
• Lecturer, Insights into Rolling Stock Engineering, 2013-2019, and 2021.

Monash Institute of Railway Technology
• Senior Rollingstock Engineering Consultant, 2016-2024.
• Trainer, Railway Rolling Stock: The Fundamentals of Rolling Stock Design, Maintenance and
Operations, c. mid 2010s-2020s.

Professional
• Former Technical Support Manager, Maintrain Facility, UGL Engineering.
• Former Electrical Engineer, State Rail Authority.

Publications
• Witness, Railway Technical Society of Australasia, House of Representatives Standing Committee
on Transport inquiring into Sustainable Cities, Parliament of Australia, 2004.
• Contributor, Economic and Social Impacts of the Privatisation of Regional Infrastructure and
Government Business Enterprises in Regional and Rural Australia, House of Representatives
Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services, Parliament of Australia, 2004.

Awards and Recognition include:

• Fellow, Engineers Australia, 1998.
• Life Membership Award, Railway Technical Society of Australasia, 2010.