People Spotlight: Meet Simon Middleton
Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting a director from our Rail business in the United Kingdom and providing an insight into their inspiration and work.
Simon Middleton has over 25 years of experience in transportation infrastructure, primarily in the UK rail sector. His career began with Scott Wilson (an AECOM legacy company), focusing on asset management projects in the UK highway and rail sectors. He advanced to lead business development and oversee client frameworks, including international work in North America and Australia, where heavy haul rail clients adopted AECOM’s innovative asset management approach.
Simon has held various leadership roles within AECOM’s rail business, spanning operational management, business development, and project delivery across multiple regions. Notably, he has led AECOM’s work on the Northumberland Line reopening, a project of regional and national significance. This initiative converted a freight railway to passenger services, marking the return of rail passenger services to the line since the 1960s in 2024. The project is celebrated as transformative for North East England.
Simon is known for his collaborative approach and has built a wide network of trusted relationships within AECOM and the broader industry.
Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry.
As a child, I loved playing with building toys like Meccano and Lego and was also very keen on art so I thought that I would become an architect. As I went through school, my direction changed a bit, because I was strongest in STEM subjects, and this led to me studying civil engineering at university.
During my summer breaks from university, I would return to my hometown and work in a frozen food factory with my friends, which involved long shifts and night work but also helped me appreciate the challenges of hard work. Before the final year of my masters, I decided to do something better aligned to my degree and took up a summer placement with legacy company Scott Wilson. This gave me a foot in the door to the business, and 27 years later I am still working for the same company.
I have grown in enthusiasm for the industry and what it can deliver for people and communities and really enjoyed the progression through professional chartership to becoming an ICE Fellow and then mentoring others through a similar path.
I have grown in enthusiasm for the industry and what it can deliver for people and communities and really enjoyed the progression through professional chartership to becoming an ICE Fellow and then mentoring others through a similar path.
What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?
The Northumberland Line has undoubtedly been my favorite and most challenging project. I was fortunate to be involved from the early stages of development and business case, with my role expanding as the project progressed. As the project director for over six years, I led the development phases from feasibility through to detailed design, before handing over to the current Programme Delivery Director who has overseen the overall delivery of the works.
Our role on Northumberland has been influential, varied and a fantastic example of the range of expertise we have and the power of bringing this together to deliver a transformative outcome. Hundreds of my AECOM colleagues have worked on the project, but there is a strong core team that has been involved from the early stages through to the line opening in 2024. Many of us have had to learn and adapt on the job and worked under significant pressure, but in many ways, it has still been easy to be motivated because we all know what a big difference this project will make to the communities it will serve.
I have been awestruck by the individual effort and professionalism of many of the team members and thoroughly enjoyed the team spirit that extends beyond AECOM to the client team and our delivery partners. We have continuously motivated each other throughout this multi-year project, celebrating the satisfaction of achieving critical milestones that once seemed out of reach.
The Northumberland Line has undoubtedly been my favorite and most challenging project. I was fortunate to be involved from the early stages of development and business case, with my role expanding as the project progressed. I have been awestruck by the individual effort and professionalism of many of the team members and thoroughly enjoyed the team spirit that extends beyond AECOM to the client team and our delivery partners.
Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.
The Northumberland Line will reconnect communities to jobs and educational opportunities that were hard to access since the railway closed to passengers in the mid-1960s. The new stations are already stimulating development in housing, community hubs like Wansbeck Square in Ashington and small businesses seizing new opportunities brought by the railway.
When the first two stations opened in December 2024, the excitement from locals using the railway for the first time in their lives, or those who had travelled on the last services before the line was closed, was fantastic.
Beyond improving lives, the project has also delivered local employment, engagement with communities, and special projects with schools. While construction caused noise and disruption, we have been sensitive to these issues from the start, always listening to concerns and mitigating them wherever possible.
The Northumberland Line will reconnect communities to jobs and educational opportunities that were hard to access since the railway closed to passengers in the mid-1960s.
Share a piece of career advice.
Embrace change and opportunity! In the early stages of my career, I got a bit stuck in my comfort zone and probably limited my progression, but as soon as I started to grasp opportunities that were put in front of me, my growth accelerated. You tend to regret the things you don’t do in life, rather than the things you do.