Nethra Nair

Over 15+ years of working in Mining, with 5+ years as Maintenance Superintendent across Rail Rolling Stock, Renewals, Track, Signals & Communications, Civils, Rail Grinding and Rail Bound Plant; preceded by 11+ years as Port and Process Plant Production Engineer and Metallurgist. Experienced in working with teams through the full asset lifecycle — design, commissioning, ramp-up, and sustained operations. Recently led a mixed-discipline team of 14 direct and >50 indirect full-time reports across a 340 km single-line heavy haul network, with shutdown loadings of up to 300+ contractors.

Accountable for FY budgets up to $100M.

Held Acting Rail Maintenance

Manager accountability on multiple occasions totalling more than 11 months. Led teams to deliver multi-million dollar year-on-year savings and won awards in safety and productivity improvement challenges.

Rail Maintenance Execution Superintendent at Hancock Iron Ore / Roy Hill (2025-01 – Present)

Multi-remit Superintendent: track/signals/communications, rail bound plant operation and maintenance, civils, and full renewals portfolio. 14 direct reports, >50 indirect full-time reports, weekly loading of up to 40 "embedded" contractors with shutdown loadings of up to 300+ contractors.

• Served as Acting Rail Maintenance Manager for a total of >11 months across the network on numerous occasions across Rail Maintenance tenure of 5+ years (excludes weekly and weekend coverage)
• Held weekly execution accountability for the 186 km section of a 340 km single-line 44t-axle load heavy haul railway operating at 118% of original design capacity with zero route redundancy
• Held shutdown execution and major works accountability for the full 340 km network as well as condition monitoring requirements (ultrasonic and track geometry inspections, etc)
• Led a day-to-day team of 2 supervisors each across renewals, civils, rail bound plant, track maintenance, and signals & comms, plus 2 track inspectors; with 12 comms and signalling technicians, 18 track technicians and flash-butt/AT welders, 14 rail grinding maintainer/operators, 11 rail bound plant maintainer/operators, and 2 rail communications analysts, along with embedded and non-embedded contractor loadings over and above this
• Led and/or facilitated the development and execution of major works and renewals/capital scopes of up to 300+ contractors across multi-disciplinary programs (formation and bridge repairs, cutting and broken ground remediation, signals and comms obsolescence and downtime reduction)
• Maintained overall team work management compliance above 95% across all key metrics
• With supervisors, developed the FY27–FY50 re-rail program via a custom-built in-house shutdown planning tool that can be transposed to any business
• Developed the FY27 rail maintenance execution budget of >$55 million for consideration by senior leadership and board review

Rolling Stock Maintenance Execution Superintendent at Hancock Iron Ore / Roy Hill (2021-03 – 2025-01)

Held weekly execution accountability for maintenance of 28 GE ES44Aci Evolution Series diesel-electric locomotives and 1,650 wagons (ore cars, side-dump cars, flat cars and ballast wagons); as well as rail bound plant maintenance prior to transferring to next role.

• Led a day-to-day team consisting of 4 rolling stock maintenance supervisors, 8 heavy diesel fitters, 8 electricians, 12 boilermakers, 12 mechanical fitters (machinists/fitter turner), 8 trades assistants
• Led the team through the commencement of the locomotive engine change-out campaign and its optimisation
• Implemented with the team the optimisation of ore car draft repairs from 24 hours to 3 hours
• Led the team to win the company safety improvement of the year award for separate work delivered across the rolling stock portfolio, alongside a range of other safety and productivity improvements in locomotive and ore car maintenance
• Led the team to respond to the first major network derailment and safe reinstatement of the network

Specialist Engineer – Production, Port & Rail at Hancock Iron Ore / Roy Hill (2014-09 – 2021-03)

Worked as sole production engineer through ramp-up from commissioning to 65 million tonnes annual output, covering optimisation of shiploader/reclaimer/car dumper/stacker operation, materials handling, sample station management, as well as managing the Intertek laboratory team.

• Delivered $3.2 million savings in a single year through an optimised screen panel layout and installation, which also removed multiple manual handling injury mechanisms and reduced screen panel maintenance, while holding customer quality targets
• Implemented 882 improvement initiatives in less than six years through sustained collaboration with process control and reliability engineering teams
• Part of team that optimised AMPLA delay accounting and inventory management, as well as SCADA and alarm management to automate controller input for quick response and fault-finding
• Developed a graduate process engineer through to succession role prior to transition to rail maintenance position
• Nominated for Young WiMWA of the Year 2015

Graduate Metallurgist at Fortescue Metals Group / Leighton Contractors – Solomon Project (2014-01 – 2014-09)

Supported the wet plant OPF metallurgical team through the ramp-up and commissioning of the Kings wet processing plant.

Graduate Metallurgist / Process Engineer at Rio Tinto (2013-02 – 2014-01)

Involved in key projects around optimisation of port screen-houses, sample stations and related areas to improve product quality at Dampier port operations.

Engineering Outreach Mentor at Curtin University / Engineers Without Borders (2010-01 – 2012-11)

Responsible for marketing the Engineering discipline at Curtin University; educated school children and university peers on engineering pathways and humanitarian engineering.

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), Chemical Engineering; Bachelor of Science, Extractive Metallurgy in Chemical Engineering, Extractive Metallurgy – Curtin University (2008-01 – 2012-12)