Heritage Technical Committee - Membership
Our committee structure and appointment process is defined by APIS 11.
Current members
Michael Hobbs (Chair)
Michael is a Certified Engineer who is an active member of Canterbury Railway Society. Michael works for a structural engineering firm in Christchurch, and is qualified to drive a wide variety of historic locomotives at Ferrymead Heritage Park.
Jarrod Coburn (Professional Secretary)
Jarrod is the CEO of a law firm based in Christchurch. He’s currently the Secretary and Marketing Manager of Diesel Traction Group, a member of the National Railway Museum and Canterbury Railway Society, and a trustee of Ferrymead Heritage Park. He holds a Master’s degree in Management Studies and in his formative years worked on the Interislander’s D.E.V. Arahura.
Alex is the KiwiRail professional liaison for the HTC. He first at KiwiRail in 2009 after studying Mechanical Engineering at Canterbury, doing various rolling stock work including commissioning for the first two batches of DLs. He left for the UK in 2014 and worked in fleet engineering for Docklands Light Railway and then later for Hitachi Rail where he led the design for their Class 803 intercity EMUs. Since coming back to New Zealand in 2021 he has worked as an investigator for TAIC and then reliability engineer on the Matangi units for Hyundai-Rotem.
Peter is the Projects and Maintenance Co-ordinator at Steam Inc.
Chris is a Certified Engineer running his own professional practice. He also leads heritage operations at Bush Tramway
Kerry is a rail professional engaged by Translink in Queensland. He was formerly the Rolling Stock Maintenance Leader for Dunedin Railways and has a life-long active participation in professional rail operations, and heritage groups in New Zealand and Australia.
Aaron is the Safety, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement Manager at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. He has previously worked as an Electronic Engineer in Research and Development.
Matt comes from a Mechanical Engineering background and is currently a Technician working with First Gas. Matt's railway experience includes 16 years with KiwiRail in both mechanical fitting/turning and engineering support/document control roles. Matt has been a volunteer for Pahiatua Railcar Society for 23 years and is PRS's Engineering and Maintenance manager. He has also volunteered with Silver Stream Railway and Mainline Steam in past.
Mike Wilcox has over 35 years experience in the heritage rail sector. Mike trained in heavy machining and for the last 25 years has worked for Nelson Stud Welding and Mainline Steam. Mike has an immense knowledge of all things steam and has overseen the restoration of several locomotives and pieces of passenger rolling stock. Mike previously sat on the HTC prior to taking a break in 2020.
Speaking rights members
For the purposes of succession planning and greater transparency each operator can nominate a non-voting member to attend HTC meetings. Current members are:
Stuart has been involved with Heritage Rail for 20 years.
Dennis is closely involved with Steam Incorporated.
Craig is the Quality and Risk Manager for the Diesel Traction Group and is heavily involved in Weka Pass Railway.
Committee Protocols
Minutes of most recent HTC meeting