The Pen | Ans Rietstra Director of Projects at ProRail

"I advocate civil disobedience without breaking the law"

Public transport is dominated by sustainability. Part of the whole context of sustainability was my motivation for joining ProRail in 2016, as an atypical officer in a great place. I enjoy working in the public domain, have improvements as a drive and enjoy doing new things as part of a team. ProRail sets an example for the rest of the market, after all, we are one of the largest clients in the public sector.

With 180 years on the clock, we are also an old industry, where safety has always been dominant. That's fine, because we like to see everyone who works on and around the railroad get home safely. However, due to rules and regulations, I find that innovation is slow to take off. For that reason, I have now put a group of people to work shaping those rules and regulations in such a way that contractors can and may be innovative in terms of sustainability and still work profitably.

Sincere intention as a starting point

If we make sincere intentions the starting point, then the rules may be adjusted accordingly. To do that, dialogue must be made possible. It is certainly not an easy job to enable contractors to be sustainable, to innovate and thereby not price themselves out of the market. This requires joint research and the necessary experiments. I therefore advocate civil disobedience without breaking the law. We need people and organizations willing to take the lead to put the intent of sustainability first, to get the job done. That search is taking place both externally and internally. We are looking for people who think in terms of opportunities and actually use them, rather than thinking in terms of limitations.

Sustainability is also about people themselves

The aspiration is to create lasting relationships between people, make lasting connections. Therefore, I am looking for people who feel challenged and willing to go for the long term. My role in this is to inspire and motivate these people; ProRail is pre-eminently the appropriate organization for achieving such a sustainability goal. I owe it to my standing to do so, otherwise I wouldn't be working here.

I have had this mindset in work since I was 28 years old. I am a "people person" and do not believe in prescribing something without believing in it myself. Therefore, I like to prove that it can be done. The fact that you are doing something good, something nice for people, is an enormous motivator. That you can show this as a project manager and group is great!

Working in manageable steps

ProRail participates in a number of foreign initiatives. As ProRail we have an alliance with Rijkswaterstaat, together we exchange knowledge with foreign countries. Sometimes it's difficult, because we have a significantly different structure in the Netherlands. However, we learn from each other and make a good translation for the Netherlands. No sinecure! As for the cooperation of politicians: we can only hope -and to some extent enforce it with respect- that maximum cooperation is granted. Personally, I am convinced that we should proceed in manageable steps, picking "the low-hanging fruit" first. One example is the reuse of ballast. How do we ensure that the contractor's fence will be two meters further along? Regulations should be applied differentially in this regard. The driving force is, "How can we make it better for our children?"

Using each other's strength rather than abusing it

You only get your way if your intention is good. If you are at the helm, you have to make sure your crew is doing good things. Ask questions first, then judge. As a leader, you must inspire and facilitate dialogue. Create space for people to excel. We need to use each other's strengths, not abuse them.

Sustainability is not expensive. One can simply earn, if one does things right. However, one must dare to invest, every (r)evolution has cost money!