Atkins expands Southern California presence with new office, strategic personnel moves

LOS ANGELES, Calif., USA: Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is expanding its rail and transit presence in Southern California to accommodate the company’s accelerated growth in the region, including a new downtown Los Angeles office location and strategic staffing and personnel moves.

“We have seen rapid growth of our rail and transit business in Southern California, including through our existing contract to perform systems engineering for LA Metro ahead of the 2028 Olympics,” said Ken Hawkins, Sector Manager for Atkins' Community and Intermodal Infrastructure business and Southern California office leader. “Our new office and staff additions are critical to our growth in Southern California as we continue to strengthen our presence as a premier engineering and project management consultant in the region.”

New faces from Atkins’ rail and transit business coming to the Los Angeles office include: 

Sergio Callen, Vice President, Senior Division Manager. Sergio has more than 15 years of diverse engineering experience in the United States. He has specialized in systems engineering and systems integration for high-speed rail, subways, light rail and advanced guideway systems. He brings diverse engineering and management experience in the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe, and has participated in numerous public-private partnership and design-build projects in North America, Europe and Asia. He has supported concessionaires, construction companies and public agencies, helping them optimize asset performance and design and constructability solutions at lower life-cycle costs within acceptable risk tolerances.

Arya Rais-Firouz, Senior Project Manager. Arya has 8 years of experience with Atkins’ Rail & Transit Group and has served in a leadership role for several notable rail and transit projects in both the United States and Canada. He has a strong technical background in rolling stock engineering and specializes in both owner- and client-side procurement support services for new passenger rail equipment, including LRV, commuter and high-speed vehicles. Arya supported several major Design-Build and P3 projects in Canada including the Trillium Line, Confederation Line and Eglinton Crosstown. He continues to support major private rail initiatives in the US, including the Brightline intercity service in Southeastern Florida and the Texas Central Railroad High Speed project where Atkins is supporting The Shinkansen United, the Japanese consortium delivering Tokaido Shinkansen technology to the state of Texas.

Arvind Joshi, PE, Senior Project Director. With more than 38 years of experience in rail transportation engineering, construction and design projects, Arvind has worked on six high-profile design-build projects, including the California High Speed Rail project and the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit project. He has extensive experience in delivering megaprojects from the scoping, planning and environmental stages through final design and construction. Arvind’s experience includes managing multidisciplinary teams, implementing and managing quality control processes, and coordinating and communicating with stakeholders, such as communities, agencies, utilities, railroads, transportation departments, owners and contractors.

Our growth in the rail and transit business in Los Angeles comes on the heels of several other recent hires over the last two years to strengthen the infrastructure and water business in Los Angeles, including Maria Alvarez, Senior Project Director, who has more than 25 years of project management and engineering experience in water and wastewater facilities.

Atkins has provided engineering, design and project management services for clients across Southern California, including LA Metro, Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering, Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach and the Orange County Transportation Authority.

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