Oct. 10, 2025
By Nick Behan
With over 30 years in rail, Steve Murphy has led some of the UK’s most complex and high-profile operations, from Chiltern Railways and London Overground to the Elizabeth line. As former CEO of MTR UK and now Chair of Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail, he brings a unique perspective on growth, performance, and cultural change in the industry. In this conversation, he reflects on the enduring lessons of rail’s transformation since the 1990s, the pricing and product shifts still to come, and how AI and data can unlock the next leap in reliability and customer experience.
Looking back, what’s been the most transformative change in the sector and how has it shaped operations today?
The biggest single change is growth. When I joined rail in 1991, the prevailing mindset was one of managed decline. Passenger numbers had been falling for decades, and the system was run more as a utility to be contained than as an engine of national growth.
What we’ve seen since then is extraordinary: year-on-year growth in passenger demand alongside major opportunities for freight expansion as the logistics sector seeks more sustainable solutions, even through economic downturns and crises. Rail has been transformed from a declining industry into a dynamic one. That single fact has reshaped investment decisions, timetable planning, and the way railways see their role in cities and regions.
The other great shift is cultural. Much of my career has been about driving performance punctuality, reliability and recovery. These fundamentals matter more than anything. Yet in the last five years especially, the industry has often been distracted: by Covid, industrial relations, and funding debates. Understandable, but costly. I think we need to reawaken our instinct for high performance. Run a great railway and everything else, growth, cost control and sustainability, falls into place.
What’s the biggest sustainability challenge in your area of the sector - and how are you responding?
The fundamental challenge is mode shift. Rail is already one of the most sustainable ways to travel, so the biggest contribution we can make is to move more people, more often.
What’s striking post-pandemic is the change in travel patterns. The traditional nine-to-five peak hasn’t returned in the same way. Instead, we’ve seen a boom in off-peak and leisure travel. That’s an enormous opportunity, but our product is still designed for the commuting world of the 1950s. Pricing models, ticket types, even timetables, all assume daily commuting. We need to move to flexible, trusted ticketing that reflects modern travel. Customers should feel confident that whatever they do, they’re getting the best deal.
Younger generations also see mobility differently. Owning a car isn’t aspirational; it’s a utility. Rail, by contrast, offers productivity and freedom. You can work, connect, or simply relax. That’s a cultural shift we need to embrace and build on.
How do you balance commercial performance with the long-term imperative to become a more sustainable business?
I’m sceptical about the idea of trade-offs. Too often we’re told you can have punctuality or capacity, growth or sustainability, affordability or reliability. In reality, the best railways deliver all of those together.
Take London Overground. We dramatically increased services, improved punctuality, and grew ridership and revenue all at once. Or the Elizabeth line: once reliability was embedded, volumes surged, and with them came financial sustainability. High performance underpins everything else.
Affordability is a particular issue in the UK. Compared with Europe, our fares are expensive. That’s not purely down to operators, it reflects policy choices over decades. But even within that framework, we can do better. Smarter retail products, flexible ticketing, and targeted incentives can help. Sustainability doesn’t sit apart from commercial performance, it’s embedded in it. If rail is the easiest, most reliable, and best-value option, then growth, revenues, and emissions savings will follow.
Where is AI already changing the game—and what excites or concerns you about what’s next?
Rail is awash with data, but starved of insight. Fleets, assets, and systems generate vast telemetry every day, but much of it sits unused. AI has the potential to unlock that.
The immediate applications are in resilience and recovery. AI can help design base timetables that are inherently robust, flag anomalies in real time, and guide controllers to faster, smarter decisions. Predictive maintenance is another area where AI can deliver huge gains, spotting early warning signs and preventing failures before they happen.
There are opportunities at the human level too. Every train carries a black-box recorder capturing performance data, yet some of the best-trained and most professional drivers in the world have little access to their own insights. Providing that visibility. AI-powered feedback loops could help them optimise energy use and punctuality, just as many modern cars now do for drivers.
On the customer side, the real prize is fares. Today, passengers face millions of possible combinations, creating confusion and distrust. AI could simplify that dramatically, automatically capping spending, tailoring offers, and making rail feel intuitive.
The concerns? Security and hype. Rail is critical infrastructure, so letting AI into core systems must be handled with extreme care. And there’s a lot of “AI snake oil” out there. We need to focus on applications that deliver real operational value, not just glossy promises.
Looking ahead to 2030, what single shift will most define the future of transportation - and why?
The defining shift will be alignment. Rail’s strongest case is when it connects directly to national priorities: growth, housing, and regional balance.
The transformations I’ve seen, Chiltern to Banbury, the London Overground, and the Elizabeth line, all worked because they weren’t just railway projects. They unlocked housing growth, created jobs, and drove regeneration. Ireland has recognised this with its all-island strategy looking out to 2050, tying rail investment directly to economic and social outcomes. The UK needs the same approach.
By 2030, I’d like to see a railway with simpler fares, a trusted digital retail system, reliable day-to-day performance, and a clear role in supporting housing and growth. That combination, customer-focused, digitally enabled, and strategically aligned, is what will define the future of transport.