Senior Railway Specialist

Senior Railway Specialist Job #: req33627 Organization: World Bank Sector: Infrastructure Grade: GG Term Duration: 3 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 7/14/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
Infrastructure Vertical 
Globally, one billion people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 685 million people lack electricity, and nearly 4 billion people lack Internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Vertical within the World Bank is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. The INF Vertical currently consists of four global departments: Energy & Extractives (EEX); Transport (TR); Urban, Resilience and Land (URL), and Infrastructure Finance Practice (IFP). It oversees the Bank's work across energy and transport sectors, urban development, as well as efforts to promote energy transition, low-carbon transportation, livable cities, disaster risk resilience, land management, and quality infrastructure services through public-private partnerships. Infrastructure represents around $110 billion of the Bank’s portfolio. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure
Transport Global Department 
The Transport Global Practice seeks to connect people, goods and services to jobs, schools, hospitals, local, regional, and international markets, using faster, cheaper, safer and more efficient solutions, while keeping traffic fatalities, congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and local air pollution in check.  It responds to the needs of developing countries and transition economies for modern and reliable transport solutions.  The Transport Global Department consists of the Transport Global Knowledge Unit (ITRGK) and the Global Road Safety Unit (ITRRS).
Transport Global Knowledge Unit
The Transport Global Knowledge Unit (ITRGK) aims to bring global knowledge, good practices and lessons learned in the design of country and regional transport operations and policies. The unit systematically engages with international partners to both develop partnerships for frontier-knowledge generation but also position the Bank in key global dialogues about transport interventions vis-à-vis climate action, food security, private capital mobilization, adoption of emerging technologies, fragility, and inclusion to services, development opportunities and markets. In addition to supporting one of the highest lending practices in the World Bank, ITRGK also takes leadership on key corporate priorities, and implementation of the knowledge compact.
ITRGK comprises global leads for the WB-wide transport knowledge groups, multiple technical staff specialized in each of the transport sub-sectors (urban transport, logistics, railways, maritime, air transport) as well as specialists in cross-cutting transport policy topics such as economics, funding and financing, regulation, and digitalization. The unit houses the Global Facility to Decarbonize Transport (GFDT) and the Bank’s main platform for international cooperation on transport and mobility issues: Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All).
The work of ITRGK is organized around four buckets as follows.
• Transport Decarbonization and Air Quality. ITRGK supports knowledge and operations aiming to accelerate transport decarbonization targeting pathways to make possible carbon neutrality by 2050. An important co-benefit of achieving this objective is improving air quality. This bucket includes decarbonization areas that demand early action while preserving the view of mobility as a system such as electric mobility, public transport, active mobility, adoption of electric mobility, cleaner technologies and fuels, sustainable motorization, used-car trade policies and fleet renewal. It also includes activities that support decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors such as green logistics, green ports, and decarbonization of shipping. ITRGK grants priority to developing in-house modeling capability to support climate corporate mandates (climate co-benefit tracking, project alignment with Paris Agreement, GHG accounting) and transport sections of the Climate Change and Development Reports (CCDRs) with an integrated passenger transport decarbonization model. 
• Resilience, Adaptation and Fragility. ITRGK supports activities, knowledge and policies to increase the adaptative and resilient capacity of transport systems and infrastructure to withstand exogenous shocks such as climate-related shocks and natural disasters, pandemics, and minimize disruptions to economies and adverse impacts on people and their well-being. The vital role that resilient transport systems and networks play in creating resilient economies is undeniable, inter alia, enabling efficient, reliable and financially sound supply chains for all economic sectors (food, agriculture, tourism, health, etc.). This issue has been put under the spotlight by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasingly frequent climate-related disasters. 
• Logistics, Food Security and Regional Integration. ITRGK supports knowledge and operations to enhance countries integration to regional and global value chains and integration of lagging and landlocked regions through effective and reliable connectivity and efficient logistics. The agenda includes support to regional operational teams to improve connectivity and logistics networks, enhance the impact of transport corridors on promoting growth through competitiveness and stimulating wider economic development, and more broadly, supporting the multimodal agenda including the expansion and improvement of railways, airports, ports, waterways and roads. ITRGK is positioning itself as a key player to solve key trade and food security challenges when identifying alternative transport options and investment needs to specific situations. 
• Inclusion. ITRGK promotes inclusive and sustainable mobility and interventions to overcome barriers to enable access to jobs, markets, health care, schools, services, and other opportunities. Among the goals of inclusive and sustainable mobility is to connect all people and communities to economic and social opportunities, considering the needs of different groups, including the poor, those in vulnerable situations, women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, across geographical locations. Mobility and accessibility are two facets of the same coin, which are critical for sustainable economic development and play a large role in developing and preserving human capital.  Limited access to transport in rural and urban areas are key barriers to eradicating poverty while promoting property and sustainable economic development. 
Along with the thematic ITRGK program activities grouped on the four buckets, the unit gives the utmost priority to mobilizing more private capital in transport projects as well as climate finance, tapping into a wide range of options including PPPs, SOE reform and project bonds (green/blue/social). The unit works closely with the Global Road Safety Unit (ITRRS) which houses the Global Road Safety Facility. 
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
ITRGK is looking for Senior Railways Specialist (SRS), with demonstrated experience in rail sector reform, regulation, funding and financing, ideally in developing countries. The SRS will report to the ITRGK Global Practice Manager and will be based in DC (USA).
The selected candidate will:
• Provide thought-leadership on railway sector interventions, strategies and policies. This includes, but it is not limited to:   o Advise and support the Transport Practice Management Team on strategies for continued engagement with clients and in formulating business plans and innovative initiatives on railways. o Create and curate knowledge on railways that is relevant to the Bank’s mission, this includes undertaking analytical and advisory work to distill global lessons from regional or country engagements, identifying knowledge gaps and key railways topics, and leading knowledge creation in strategic themes; o Stay abreast of key developments in the rail sector and in cross-cutting issues affecting the sector, such as policies, laws and regulations, impacts, and financing mechanisms; o Actively participate in relevant international conferences and keep abreast of the relevant transport literature; o Liaise with internal and external experts on priority topics in the rail sector; o Support the professional development of staff engaged in the railway community by developing learning curricula, mentoring less experienced staff, and contributing to knowledge sharing activities in the transport practice and across relevant World Bank units. o Mentor railway staff and suggest growth opportunities for staff across regions. 
• Identify opportunities within country programs to scale up WB support in the rail sector and contribute to policy dialogue with clients. This involves close coordination with the Global Practice Manager and Regional Practice Mangers, and among other things includes: o Support regional units in working with their clients on complex or new initiatives and help develop country-level engagement strategies; o Support regional teams in policy dialog with clients, including presenting World Bank knowledge work; preparing and participating in learning events for clients that demonstrate the valuable knowledge the World Bank can bring; and participating in missions and calls with clients; o Promote internal partnerships and collaboration with associated Bank units, including URL, Climate Change, and IFC/MIGA.
• Lead–in close coordination with regional teams–  the design of cutting-edge railway projects, and be part of regional teams designing, preparing, implementing and supervising railways interventions, strategies and policies in strategic or complex World Bank operations. This includes close coordination with the Regional Practice Managers, and involves: o Hands-on cross-support to regional teams; o Bringing international good practices to bear in the design of WB engagements in railways; o Developing guidance and training for operational teams.
• Co-lead the Railways Knowledge Management agenda and Community of Practice activities. This includes: o Organize the community of staff working on railway in a cohesive and mutually supporting group that shares knowledge, resources, and talent; o Maintain Railways Intranet site; o Develop and help deliver railways training programs for staff and clients; o Disseminate knowledge about railways and development through publications, seminars/webinars, communications materials (such as briefings, blogs, videos) and other Transport Practice activities and events; o Play an active role in global networks, establishing links and maintaining effective cooperation with external organizations such as other MDBs, railways organizations (such as UIC), NGOs, public and private institutes/foundations, academic organizations, as well as existing and potential donors; o Provide input to strategic analytical work as well as quality enhancement and advise on good practices through peer-reviews and upstream support to regional operations; o Support data management and analytics efforts by the Transport Practice.