2024 Sophie McLaughlin
Young Railway Engineer 2024
THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2024 RTSA YOUNG RAILWAY ENGINEER AWARD IS SOPHIE MACLAUGHIN
Sophie McLaughlin is awarded the 2024 Young Railway Engineer Award celebrating her excellent experience in railway engineering design since graduation in 2016 and her achievement of CPEng in 2022. Sophie’s has been involved in major network, regional and national building projects like Cross River Rail – Rail Integration Systems UNITY Alliance, Inland Rail North Star to Kagaru Feasibility Designs and Cane Rail Crossing Upgrades.
In her roles, Sophie has led track and civil disciplines, managing teams focusing on integrated railway design, project management, and delivery, ensuring technical excellence, quality assurance, and safety.
Sophie is recognised as having active roles in mentoring junior professionals including training sessions and technical presentations. Sophie is always contributing to the wider railway community and industry through being an activate member of RTSA Qld Chapter committee in 2023, CORE 2023 Poster presentation ‘A Yard of Firsts’ – Cross River Rail Mayne North Stabling Yard design works and participation in events such as the RTSA QLD Chapter Hackathon, 2022.
She was a core member of the team awarded the PWI Qld X-tra Mile Award in 2023 for her design works involving the electro-pneumatic turnout installation within the Queensland Rail Network. As a young professional she was a recipient of a Young Professionals Scholarship for CORE, 2018.
In summary, her experience and knowledge of the railway industry has allowed her to move into team leadership roles within major rail infrastructure projects. In addition to her work achievements Sophie is a role model for young professional engineers, contributing to the wider rail industry and presenting technical papers of her work and project experience. Sophie is highly respected by all her peers and is a well-deserved recipient of the 2024 Young Railway Engineer Award.