Magdalena Kranawetter

After graduating from technical college, I gained 1.5 years of work experience with a business in the field of road construction. After that my career at Rhomberg Bahntechnik started. My area of responsibility, slab track, was a completely new territory for me. I was therefore quite nervous on my first day at work. But there was no reason to worry: In a six-month introductory phase I learned all the basics of railway construction and slab track.

Then things got serious: I spent 2 years in Bergen/Norway building another tram line for the local light railways. Further construction sites led me to London, Wolfurt, Switzerland and now to Germany. My biggest challenge so far, I mastered in the Netherlands. It was there that a colleague and I had sole responsibility for a project for the first time. During a four-week track closure, all work had to be completed on schedule. This is no easy task given the high time pressure that prevails on such construction sites. Not everything always went smoothly either. Fortunately, however, we have a good culture of error - together with my colleagues and managers I was able to find solutions to any problems that arose. My learning effect was enormous! That is also what I appreciate so much about our corporate culture: Management meets me at eye level, I can try out new things and if there are problems, solutions are found instead of being criticised.

I feel really comfortable in my team. We sometimes jokingly say that we're all "unicorns." Each one of us is unique in our own way, and each one has his or her own personal quirk. These differences make living together - since we are often far away from home - exciting. I would not want to miss the time with my colleagues.

I see myself as a synergy-realiser, because I combine the pragmatic and practical ideas of the foremen and workers on the construction sites with the theoretical specifications of the planners. Both approaches are important: our planners draw up their plans based on the applicable standards and guidelines. Our employees on the construction site then provide a solution that can be put into practice. As an intermediary it is my job to reconcile the interests of the different sides.