Carol Ann Bustard was born in 1947. She joined British Transport Hotels as an Assistant Promotions Manager in 1973. She then worked as a Campaigns Assistant for the British Railways Board from 1978 and became a Key Accounts Manager in 1979. She moved to British Rail: Eastern Region, York as a Passenger Sales Manager in 1984 and the following year became the Regional Passenger Manager for British Rail: Eastern Region in 1985. In 1986 she joined Regional Railways as a Tourism Manager, she then worked as a Retail Manager from 1987 to 1991. She became a Property and Trading Manager at Network SouthEast until 1992 when she was appointed as a Contracts Manager. In 1993 she became Network SouthEast’s Project Director for Restructuring Contracts. In 1994 she joined Railtrack as the Account Manager Great Eastern and Anglia. Between 1995 and 2005 she held various posts in Railtrack and Network Rail.