Career

Janneke de Jong

What has your career been like so far?
"After studying Facility Management, I got a job in a hotel in Maastricht. In 2004, a neighbour gave me the idea to apply for a job with NS, where I went to work as a manager at the age of 25. My time working there was very satisfying and I held all kinds of managerial positions, all in the south of the Netherlands. For the first thirteen years, I managed employees in various operational positions and I then spent three years as manager of the NS maintenance company in Maastricht."
 
After 16 years at NS, were you ready for something new?
"After sixteen years, DB Cargo came looking for me. Everything was going fine at NS, but I also felt attracted to an entirely new world. And how sharp can you be after sixteen years with the same employer? So, on 1 July I started as manager of Chemelot."
 
How have the first months at DB Cargo been for you?
"Very good indeed. At first, my head was full of all the new impressions - rail cargo transport really is a completely different line of business to rail passenger transport. In the meantime, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place. Chemelot is incredibly complex.”
 
What does an average day involve for you?
"Chemelot is a world of its own. Safety and the environment are of paramount importance and, as a representative of DB Cargo, I take part in many different discussions on this subject."

Wim 't Lam

What is your career background?
"After completing my business studies in Commercial Economics, I started working in logistics. The first five years were spent in the shipping industry, working for a shipping company. I then spent 23 years at the Rail Service Centre Rotterdam. I started there as a planner and worked successively as a process coordinator, process manager, interim operations manager and shift leader."

And then you joined DB Cargo…
"Initially, I was interviewed for a position as a procurer, but during the application process a vacancy arose in IMT order acceptance. That was more up my street, because I worked with clients a lot at the RSC. I also heard about the new position of intermodal coordinator, which will be created at the end of this year. That attracted me immediately. I enjoy working in operations and I like the organisation and looking for ways to remove obstacles so that customers remain satisfied."

What will you be doing as Intermodal Coordinator?
"It is a challenging, new position, which we will eventually carry out in a six-weekly schedule with six colleagues. The activities are all focused on coordinating transport for the DBWestports express. They include monitoring, information processing, 36-hour planning, maintaining contact with the terminals and the infrastructure manager, and of course with the DB Cargo colleagues involved."

Sheena Lommers

How did you end up in the world of rail cargo transport?
"In the final year of secondary school, we had to go on a work-orientation day. At the time, I didn't really know what I wanted to do - maybe join the police - but an online vacancy for train drivers caught my attention. I then contacted Arriva and was able to join them for a day. I enjoyed it so much that I enrolled at STC at the age of 16 to train as a train driver. My first work placement was with NS Reizigers in Eindhoven. On the advice of my school counsellor, I did my second work placement in rail cargo transport with DB Cargo. That was an eye-opener for me. Working as a train driver in rail cargo transport is much more varied and autonomous than driving trains from A to B in passenger transport. I then decided to do my final work placement at DB Cargo as well. After successfully completing the STC training, I was able to join DB Cargo as a train driver together with two fellow students."

What makes you happy about being a train driver?
"The combination of shunting and driving trains suits me very well. And I really like engineering, figuring out how things are put together. During the STC training, we were able to recreate a braking system for the rail engineering course. I really enjoyed that. At NS Reizigers, you are not allowed to solve malfunctions yourself, but I like to do that.”