Ali Siahvashi
Biography
Ali Siahvashi, Middle East General Manager, is the primary point of contact for customers seeking support across Ricardo’s assurance and technical advisory services in the Middle East.
Story
An experienced signalling and rolling stock engineer, Ali brings over 20 years' experience in the rail industry, including senior roles at Mapna Group (working closely with Siemens), Hitachi Rail and Bombardier.
He has led complex systems integration projects for new rolling stock and signalling systems across Australia, including Cross River Rail ETCS, Sydney Trains, Melbourne’s VLocity fleet and Regional Rail Project. In addition to his engineering expertise, Ali has a strong background in operations and maintenance (O&M), project management, and team leadership, successfully overseeing multidisciplinary teams and delivering major rail programs in Australia and internationally.
Ali joined Ricardo in 2023 as General Manager for New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Western Australia, where he oversaw technical assignments such as migration to ETCS signalling system, Shadow Operations of Sydney Metro, and Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (QTMP).
In 2025, Ali - who holds a PhD in Signalling Systems (CBTC) from Macquarie University, Sydney - was appointed to head our Middle East rail teams based in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Riyadh.