STAGECOACH and Network Rail have joined forces to mark International Women’s Day today by celebrating their female leaders.

Margaret Kay, the newly appointed managing director of South West Trains, part of the Stagecoach Group, and Becky Lumlock, route managing director for Network Rail’s Wessex route, are now working in partnership to deliver rail services between London and the South West – one of the busiest sections of the country’s rail network with around 230 million passenger journeys each year.

It is the only section of Britain’s rail network to have two female leads working together to deliver track and train.

The route also includes two female finance directors; Sam McCarthy of Network Rail’s Wessex route and Natacha Robert of South West Trains.

Margaret Kay said: “It’s great that the Wessex team is leading the way in demonstrating how the rail industry is changing for the better. It sends a really strong signal out that there are opportunities in this industry for everybody.

“I’m very pleased to be working alongside Becky in driving forward our plans across the South West network and making a real difference for our customers. However, it’s clear that we need to continue our work in encouraging more women to join the rail industry across all levels, and we’re pleased to be supporting this year’s International Women’s Day by demonstrating the steps we have already taken in our businesses.”

Becky Lumlock added: “The railway industry still has a long way to go to address its current gender imbalance, but we are making progress and it’s important that we celebrate these milestones in order to encourage other women to pursue careers in the railway."

Network Rail has recently launched a ’20 by 20’ target to increase its take-up of female employees across the business to 20% by 2020.

Margaret took up her new post on Monday, moving from Stagecoach Supertram, Sheffield’s tram network, where she has been MD for the past five years.

Margaret was last year named in the industry’s top 20 most inspirational women in the Women in Rail Awards.

She took over from Christian Roth who stepped down after nearly a decade with the business.

Christian Roth joined South West Trains in 2008 after heading up the UK rail business for manufacturer Siemens. A former Fleet Director at South West Trains, he became MD of the franchise in February 2016.