What Moves Us - Interview with Tara Walsh: Navigating Innovation Inside Network Rail

In this episode, we speak with Tara Walsh, Project Manager for the Innovation Acceleration Forum within Network Rail’s Capital Delivery team. Tara shares how the Forum helps streamline the path from promising idea to practical adoption: supporting innovators with open conversations, clear feedback, and guidance through trials, product acceptance, and procurement.

We explore how technical and non-technical voices work together to assess whether a product solves a real problem, saves time or money, and is truly scalable and sustainable. Tara offers insight into the challenges of rolling out innovations across a large, complex organisation—and why success isn’t just about flashy tech, but about doing the basics well and understanding the business need.

Plus, we unpack the cultural shift underway in rail, where teams are beginning to ask: What else can we do? and How can we do things differently? Tara’s top tip for innovators? Keep it sharp, relevant, and focused—don’t bring a like-for-like solution and expect to impress.