Will Whitehorn has been appointed chairman of the Transport Systems Catapult board being set up by the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board. The catapult will develop innovations in transport. Steve Yianni  will be chief executive, joining from Network Rail, where he was technical director, on 1st August. Whitehorn led Virgin’s successful bid for the West Coast and Cross Country rail franchises in 1996 then became president of Virgin Galactic, which is developing space flig

Lutz Bertling will take over as President and Chief Operating Officer of Berlin-based Bombardier Transportation in June. Prior to joining Bombardier, Bertling was President and Chief Executive of Eurocopter Group, a subsidiary of EADS. He will replace André Navarri, who will remain as Strategic Advisor to the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier Inc  Pierre Beaudoin until he retires in 2014.  

New Chairman and Chief Executive of Veolia Transdev Jean-Marc Janaillac has made a series of changes following the project for Caisse des Dépôts to increase its holding and Veolia Environment to scale down its stake. Janaillac has replaced both Jérôme Gallot as Chief Executive and Antoine Frérot as Chairman. Frérot remains a director, as does Antoine Gosset-Grainville on behalf of Caisse des Dépôts, a French state-owned investment bank. Janai

Sir Peter Hendy , Commissioner of Transport for London is set to become the new president of UITP, The International Association of Public Transport. Hendy’s nomination will be confirmed at the UITP’s biennial congress taking place in Geneva at the end of May. He will succeed Ousmane Thiam from Dakar, Senegal, the first African President of the Association who took over from  Alain Flausch when he was selected in 20111 as the new Secretary General of UITP. Hendy has held the

RATP Dev has confirmed that Elaine Holt has been appointed its UK Rail Franchise Director and will lead its work to pre-qualify for London’s Crossrail operator concession. Holt most recently led National Express’s bid for the Great Western rail franchise after being CEO of Directly Operated Railways, and Chairman of East Coast, from when the government took over the operation in 2009 until 2011. Holt started her career at British Airways in 1987 and worked in a variety of senior

In the changes following the moves of Howard Smith and Howard Collins, Director of Strategy and Service Development Gareth Powell  (pictured) will take overall responsibility for London Rail, alongside his existing responsibilities. Jonathan Fox will be the Acting Director of London Rail and report to Powell.  Rory O’Neill will become the Acting Director of the DLR, and along with Danny Price, Head of the Emirates Airline cable car and Sharon Thompson, the Director of Tramlink,

London’s Crossrail project has moved closer towards its opening for  services with the appointment of Howard Smith as Operations Director. Smith is currently Chief Operating Officer for Rail at Transport for London, and has successfully led the £1bn East London Line extension project as well as the development, launch and operation of London Overground and management of its operating concession with operating concession MTR/DB. Smith will now be responsible for leading the dev

The city of Bristol’s newly elected mayor George Ferguson (pictured) has named a panel to advise him on transport matters. Ferguson, an architect by profession, has campaigned for a more comprehensive approach to the city’s planning and design and a review of existing projects including a Bus Rapid Transit scheme. Members of his panel are John Grimshaw, the founder of Bristol-based cycle route promoter Sustrans; Pip Sheard, of the Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance; former Badge

The  UK Department for Transport has appointed new directors of local transport and rail as part of a major internal re-organisation. Director of local transport, John Dowie, moves to become director of a new strategic roads directorate, overseeing the Highways Agency, and is replaced by Graham Pendlebury (pictured above), previously director of the Department’s greener transport & international directorate. The strategic roads and local transport directorates will be part of a

Martin Harris has been named the new managing director of Go-Ahead Group’s subsidiary the Brighton & Hove Bus Company. Harris, currently commercial director of Go North East, is succeeding Roger French who is retiring on 1 April. Harris has 32 years’ experience in the bus industry, having begun his career in Brighton as a senior management trainee for Brighton & Hove’s predecessor Southdown in 1980. After two years in Yorkshireand he was later part of the management t

London’s transport commissioner Peter Hendy has been knighted for services to transport and the community in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours. He successfully delivered the transport services for last year’s Olympic and Paralympic games. ...as Collins off to Sydney Howard Collins, London Underground’s chief operating officer, who has received an OBE for services to the London 2012 Games, is leaving to join the newly created Sydney Trains in Australia, as chief execu

Sir Roy McNulty, who has been a Non-Executive Director of Gatwick airport since March 2011, will become its Chairman from 1st April. Sir Roy was Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority from 2001 until 2009, and Executive Chairman of National Air Traffic Services Limited (NATS) between 1999 and 2001. He was Deputy Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority.Previously Sir Roy was Chairman and Chief Executive of aircraft manufacturer Short Brothers in Belfast. He was appointed by the UK Transport

Mike Cooper, currently an Executive Director at Deutsche Bahn owned Arriva, and who has successfully led the Arriva UK Bus division since 2005, has been appointed Deputy Chief Executive to Chief Executive  David Martin. He will take on specific accountability for the Arriva Mainland Europe division. His appointment is part of senior management changes following the decision by David Evans, Managing Director - Arriva Mainland Europe, to retire after twelve years supporting development of th

In order to create a sustainable business model for those providing passenger transport services, it is critical that we increase their quality and attractiveness and seek new, innovative ways to encourage customers to change their travel habits, to leave their cars at home and opt for public transport options. This requires individual enterprises – and the industry as a whole - to think differently, to unlearn old practices and ways of thinking, and create new, innovative and customer-foc

A number of European cities have significance and development activity which means that their leaders are key European transport figures in their own right. London and Paris are two such cities whose chiefs appear earlier in our listing.  Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London’s commissioner Peter Hendy have forged a successful partnership between elected politician and public servant that has delivered a generally well regarded , system though relations between  Pierre M

At the EU level the significance of transport policy has continued to grow and with it the implications for those who operate and plan it at national and local levels. The importance of transport commissioner Siim Kallas is obvious, hence his appearance in our top 12 people, but is closely followed by that of Brian Simpson, chair of the European Parliament transport and tourism committee. Matthias Ruete heads the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) in the European Commissio

Alongside the UK’s leading passenger transport directors and decision-makers are their equivalents in Europe, both within the individual states, and across the continent as a whole. New Transit cannot attempt to produce similar lists to that for the UK for each European country, but we do recognise that there is a Europe-wide group of big hitters who either have activity and influence beyond their own borders, or are leaders of innovation and achievement within their own domain, and are e

Across the transport sector there are certain individuals whose activities stand out either as beyond the significance of their own specific role within an organisation, or for introducing new ideas from an inventive technological or entrepreneurial standpoint. In an era of rapid change to the way transport services are managed, marketed and paid for it is not surprising that a group of such people feature amongst our power list. Elaine Rosscraig, Stagecoach’s head of bus customer insigh

A group of individuals hold significant power in their role defining regulatory frameworks and supervising transport industry activities. Following last year’s Competition Commission inquiry into the local bus market, headed by Jeremy Peat, that disappointed some with its rejection of any new regulation, MPs on the transport select committee called for greater resources to be given to the traffic commissioners in order for them to supervise the proposed new bus operators’ code of con

The economic circumstances of 2012 gave added impetus to a range of lobbyists and protestors, harnessing public support against cuts in spending on transport, or the need to raise additional revenue through fares rises. RMT union general secretary Bob Crow showed his ongoing old fashioned union power to win concessions for his members through threatened and actual industrial action, notably in gaining supra-normal bonuses for rail staff working during the Olympics, but also as he positions hims

UK transport is heavily influenced, as elsewhere, by political leaders. Transport problems and challenges exist at both a national and local level and it is Boris Johnson Mayor of London who New Transit believes has continued to be most significant in his interventions in transport over the past year and hence included in our top dozen power people. He faced an election last year against his old adversary Ken Livingstone, which he narrowly won, and then gained the reflected glory of both the Oly

A group of fifty leading senior executives and managers form this year’s New Transit UK passenger transport providers Power List. There are several changes from last year as new appointments have lifted individuals into positions of greater responsibility and others have moved out. Four of the most senior UK passenger transport group heads are featured in our overall top 12 people listing on the previous pages- David Martin at Arriva, Sir Brian Souter at Stagecoach, Tim O’Toole at F

Jerome Gallot, Chief Executive, Veolia Transdev Why is he on the list? Gallot is chief executive of the world’s largest private sector transport group. What kind of year has he had? Distracting. Has spent most of it dealing with the fact that one of the owners of the group doesn’t really want to be in this marriage any more, but doesn’t really want to get out of it unless it gets a really good divorce settlement. Veolia’s shilly-shallying over what to do with it

Alain Flausch, Secretary General UITP Why is he on the list? The International Union of Public Transport has become a big hitter in discussing, presenting and promoting a positive future for public transport. Flausch’s appointment as General Secretary from his previous presidency and leading role in Europe as the head of Brussels Transport has lifted it to an even higher level. What kind of year has he had? Productive. Detailed work on policies has set benchmarks through a range

Dean Finch, Chief Executive, National Express Group Why is he on the list? Finch has real authority to play to NEG’s unique strategic strengths, and develop a growing multimodal portfolio. What kind of year has he had? Progressive. Finch has quietly got on with improving National Express’s position and he has achieved much. Margins are improving at the West Midlands bus operation and core coach patronage on its major network is growing. The company has been short listed for t

Tim O’Toole, Chief Executive FirstGroup Why is he on the list? First is still one of the world’s largest private sector transport groups, despite its current troubles. What kind of year has he had? Not good. Gained and lost an incredibly important UK rail franchise. Disposals programme in UK bus has struggled to generate momentum, let alone cash. Several operations wound up without benefitting from sales at all. Saw its place as UK’s biggest bus operator assumed by ri

David Higgins, Chief Executive of Network Rail Why is he on the list? Higgins is the leader of Britain’s rail infrastructure company, about to be on the receiving end of the UK Government’s enthusiasm for infrastructure projects, and with freedom to innovate and experiment What kind of year has he had? Good. Alliancing with train operators has shown the potential for better working practices without the need for vertical integration where train operators might have taken on s

Guillaume Pepy, Chairman SNCF Why is he on the list? Leads SNCF, second only to DB in Europe and internationally. Bangs the table at EU level. Hard What kind of year has he had? Mixed. Has continued to ensure that SNCF, or train operators in which it has a significant stake, remains the only passenger train operator in France, bar one sleeper train service. Has fought against the EU’s Fourth Railway Package which would threaten this position. Ended 2012 with a large fine for anti

Pierre Mongin, Chief Executive, RATP Why is he on the list? Expansion-minded leader of Paris’s transport operations. What kind of year has he had? Unspectacular. RATP has continued to invest in technology to improve the Paris operations and consolidate its position as a genuine player in world transport markets. But no one is sure about the financial plan. Its European division has meanwhile been swallowed up into a Europe and Asia business unit. Is that taking on too much and migh

Siim Kallas, EC Transport Commissioner Why is he on the list? He is responsible for the wider framework of much of Europe’s transport system, and is restless and interventionist in pursuing a customer-focussed agenda. What kind of year has he had? Combative. SNCF and DB have been especially opposed to Kallas’s Fourth Railway Package, which is intended to open up the rail markets of the EU by requiring open tendering of subsidised railway operations, and complete separation

David Martin Chief Executive, ARRIVA Why is he on the list? A key player in the consolidation of European passenger transport and well resourced to expand. What kind of year has he had? Steady. Deutsche Bahn respects Arriva’s skills and independence and refers to Arriva as its “entrepreneurial arm”. Martin, a veteran of around 200 M&A deals, is in a position to do what he enjoys best, leading business development, and he has added additional train, tram and bus ope

Significance can be a difficult thing to establish- but it is a task worth addressing in determining priorities, spotting trends and choosing who to follow. New Transit readily accepts the challenge in identifying the technologies , social and economic changes and key people who are shaping the future in the world of passenger transport. This is our annual ‘people-focussed’ issue and we have further expanded our search this year to put the spotlight on nearly 200 individuals who thro

Advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal has appointed the former chief executive of Network Rail to spearhead a push in transport and infrastructure as it believes the sectors “have not woken up” to the threat of the financial crisis. Iain Coucher (pictured) becomes a Managing Director in its London office to head its transport and infrastructure-focused business across Europe. In addition to his time as chief executive at Network Rail, Coucher also served as chief executive of TubeLine

Network Rail Consulting, the international consultancy arm of Network Rail, has appointed Keith Ludeman (pictured) to its four man board. Ludeman, 62 retired last year as group chief executive of Go-Ahead. Since then he has also served as a non-executive director of Network Rail. Network Rail Consulting was established last year to harness the extensive range of skills and experience within the group to offer British expertise overseas, and be an international ambassador for Britain’s ra

Tim Buxton (pictured)has been appointed by consultant Steer Davies Gleave to strengthen its rail expertise, and support its portfolio of UK and international rail projects in the rail team headed by Jim Collins . Buxton was Deputy Director, Rail Commercial Contracts, in the Department for Transport’s rail team before joining Veolia Transdev, where he was Director, UK Rail. At the Department for Transport, Buxton managed the government’s primary relationship with many of the transp

John Barlass has been recruited by MTR to a new position of European engineering director. He will be focussing on rolling stock fleet issues for MTR’s current operations including London Overground and the Stockholm Metro, as well as for future bids. He has been fleet and engineering director at UK franchises Central Trains and London Midland as well as at the Dubai Metro network.

Roger French stands down at Brighton & Hove One of Britain’s best known bus managers, Roger French, managing director of Go-Ahead’s Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company, is to retire in March after 42 years in the transport industry. French said: “After 30 years running buses in Brighton and Hove, I have decided it’s now time to relax and enjoy my retirement”. David Brown, group chief executive at Go-Ahead said: “Roger has been amazing in the inn

Stagecoach Group has announced two senior appointments as it targets commercial growth opportunities in its passenger transport markets. Alistair Smith (55, pictured) currently Group IT Director, has been appointed to the wider role of Director of Commercial and IT, and Stephanie Rivet (37, pictured below) has joined from Virgin Rail as Head of Commercial, reporting to Smith. At Virgin, which she joined in 1999 after also working for Eurostar, she has been Director, Revenue Management, helping

Will the next generation of London’s tube trains have driver’s cabs or not? There seems to be some back peddling within Transport for London over an apparent earlier commitment to push ahead with automation like that already under way in Paris (New Transit November/December 2011). London Mayor Boris Johnson, before his re-election to the post this summer, promised never to order tube trains with conventional driving cabs again, though it was conveniently unclear what he meant by th

National Express Group has made key appointments in its new local subsidiary in Germany bidding for contracts to operate regional rail lines. The new German subsidiary National Express Rail GmbH based in Düsseldorf is headed by Tobias Richter, who has joined from DB Regio. At one time he was Director of Regentalbahn AG and CEO of Vogtlandbahn GmbH, which both became part of Arriva Deutschland and are now owned by Netinera. More recently he co-founded open access freight operator Integro T

Alex Perry has been appointed managing director of Arriva’s UK Midlands bus business. He joins after seven years with National Express Group where he was latterly operations director for its UK Coach division. He was a graduate trainee at FirstGroup, and went on to become managing director of its business in Bristol, Somerset and Avon. Perry replaces Bob Hind, who retired at the end of July after being managing director at the business since 2007. It employs more than 1900 staff, and prov

Many senior people in the passenger transport sector recognise that sometimes they need to reposition their product, and the way it is perceived and experienced by their clients. Perhaps now more than ever. However well we think we perform, the emotional and personal reactions of travellers (the fear of loss of personal control) means anything less than perfect can damage reputation. We know that the offer is only as strong as its weakest link; one bad journey can turn a new user away quickly. D

The transport world is changing and we need to respond to that by creating a new business model, particularly in the bus sector. Essentially, we need to look afresh at how we market our services and develop new sales channels, payment methods and personalised marketing techniques. Go-Ahead believe in a strongly devolved management model for our individual bus companies, with marketing plans developed locally and best practice shared across the group where appropriate. The industry needs to mak

Organisations involved in transport services face the challenge of changing to meet  fast -evolving technologies and customer expectations that are reshaping their market. Most are large companies that have inherited ways of working and structures of delivery that inhibit this change. They need to understand what can be done to really reshape the way they operate and the approach of individuals within them. The unchanging and repetitive constraints of business, the nature of group dynam

Richard Parry has been appointed to be managing director of the new Intercity West Coast franchise just awarded to First Group. He headed the bid having previously worked with Tim O’Toole First Group Chief Executive as acting MD and Deputy MD for London Underground. First says he has extensive experience of operational delivery, customer service improvements and stakeholder engagement and will be supported by First’s commercial and revenue development expertise from elsewhere in its

The Chair of Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority, Cllr David Wood, has been elected as Chair of the group of six UK transport authorities which cover the largest city regions outside London. The appointment comes as the group have flexed their muscles about taking greater control of local transport services in their areas. At the group’s AGM the authorities expressed their strong support for those Integrated Transport Authorities that are progressing plans for the option of the c

Only three months after taking over as the head of Keolis, the subsidiary of SNCF, David Azéma has resigned to lead the French government Agency which holds its interests in public enterprises of the State where he was appointed on 1 August 2012 by the government.  The former right-hand man of SNCF chief executive Guillaume Pepy leaves as head of Keolis - the SNCF subsidiary specializing in local public transport to take the lead at Agency State holdings (EPA ), a public body respons

Sir Brian Souter is to take over as chairman of Stagecoach next  May when Sir George Mathewson retires, despite concern that the UK corporate governance code states that a chief executive should not go on to chair the same company. Stagecoach’s long-standing finance director, Martin Griffiths, will graduate to chief executive under the changes. He will be replaced in turn by Ross Paterson, currently director of finance and company secretary. Gary Watts, Stagecoach’s most senio

Stefan Roseanu has been appointed general manager of the Romanian railway passenger transport operator, CFR Calatori. Roseanu was co-founder of Club Feroviar, an organisation which supports and promotes public rail transport both nationally and internationally and is also part of the work group “Rail Strategy Platform” summoned by the Vice President of the European Commission and its transport chief, Siim Kallas, to debate issues confronting the European railway sector and to advise

UK Transport Secretary Justine Greening has announced the appointment of four Non-Executive Directors to the Board of HS2 Ltd. They include Richard Brown, former chief executive of Eurostar. HS2 Ltd, headed by Alison Munro, is the independent company set up to deliver a high speed rail network between London and the North of England, and has now moved from an advisory role to become a delivery body, including providing advice which enables the Department for Transport to deposit a hybrid Bill w

Serco Group, the international services company, has appointed Richard Williams as Managing Director, Transport, as part of its newly formed UK & European Division. Serco’s Transportation business provides a wide ranging set of services within the sector in the UK and globally. His appointment follows the departure of Matthew Beeton to join National Express (this page) and before that of Jeroen Weimar, previously Serco’s transport MD, to become chief operating officer UK Bus wit

Virgin Trains’ chief operating officer, Chris Gibb, has been seconded to Network Rail for the remainder of this year to work with the Network Rail team on improving the performance of the infrastructure on the southern end of the West Coast Main Line, on which Virgin is franchise holder. Gibb will retain a number of his current duties and responsibilities for Virgin and will continue to undertake these alongside the role in Network Rail. He will report to Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s

Martyn Briggs has been promoted to the position of programme manager, mobility, at Frost & Sullivan’s automotive and transportation team. He joined the international growth consultancy as a consultant last year, moving from MVA Consultancy, where he was a senior consultant in the policy, strategy and evaluation team.

Network Rail has promoted Jerry England to the role of group asset management director. He was formerly the group director of signalling and power asset management, and succeeds Peter Henderson who has stood down after a decade with the organisation. As well as for Network Rail, England has worked for the Highways Agency and Thames Water. In his new role he will be focusing on developing more customer-driven and efficient management of the company’s asset base, and the services provided t

National Express has recruited Matthew Beeton from Serco to be the Chief Operating Officer for its Coach business. At Serco, he was Managing Director of the company’s Transportation Systems division, having had a career in the transport industry spanning nearly two decades, including director positions with Rolls Royce, Bombardier and Northern Rail. He will now oversee the operational, maintenance, engineering and partner operators of the National Express Coach business, Britain’s

Introduction of Montpellier’s two new tramway lines has been supported by a new tram driver simulator. It is “the first of its kind in France,” says Vincent Cordonnier, director of Transamo, the tram engineering branch of Veolia Transdev that worked with system operator TaM to develop the tool. The network’s growing complexity is the reason for bringing the simulator into play. With the introduction of Lines 3 & 4, the zone around the city’s main line St-Roch

Roland Ries is argualbly the most significant politician in French municipal transport. He is a member of the Senate and a leading member of the socialist party and as Strasbourg Mayor since 2008 he has led the  further development of the city’s tramway and transport system. Ries has also been President of the authorities responsible for transport (GART) since 2008. In this capacity he puts forward the views of elected members who run city and regional transport authorities at Nationa

A closer focus from France on its operations in the UK seems to be signalled by RATP with the departure of Paul Matthews, who has headed RATP Dev UK business since last year. The move leaves RATP’s interests in the UK under Cyril Carniel, director of the Northern Europe Business Unit, which also covers Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.  Matthews was formerly managing director of Transdev London United, but following the separation of RATP’s interests in

Ruth Humphrey has been appointed as Project Director - Depots, for Siemens Rail Systems, and  will have overall responsibility for delivery of the Thameslink depots at Hornsey and Three Bridges.  Humphrey has over 20 years industry experience in engineering projects, and over the past 10 years has led the delivery of a variety of heavy  and light rail construction projects.  She will work closely with recently-appointed Thameslink Rolling Stock Project Programme Director Da

Professor José Manuel Viegas, a Portuguese national, has been chosen as Secretary-General-elect of the International Transport Forum. At their Annual Summit in Leipzig in May, Ministers from the 53 member countries chose Viegas as the next head of the organisation, which has been without a head since the departure of Belgian Carole Coune who was appointed a year ago, but left within a few months to return to SNCB, the Belgian state rail operator. Viegas will take over from Michael Klot

David Azéma, currently Chief Operating Officer of SNCF Group, in charge of the group's strategy and its development in France and abroad, is to become managing director of SNCF’s Keolis subsidiary, succeeding Michel Bleitrach. Keolis is SNCF’s worldwide business for operating buses, trams and light rail systems, and international rail ventures. Azéma is presently SNCF deputy general manager and member of Keolis board of directors. This board will also be reorganized

FirstGroup has appointed a new group finance director to replace Jeff Carr who left the company in November. Chris Surch will join First in September from  international waste management business Shanks Group where he has been finance director since 2009. Prior to joining Shanks he held senior financial roles at Smiths Group and TI Group. He began his career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. FirstGroup chief executive Tim O’Toole said that the appointment of a new finance director had bee

Mike Goggin, Director, International & Advisory at consultant Steer Davies Gleave has been appointed by international transport operator MTR Corporation of Hong Kong to lead their bid for the 15-year Essex Thameside rail franchise. The role is a short term project. Goggin re-joined SDG earlier this year after a period as Stations Director at Network Rail.

 FirstGroup has bolstered its UK Bus management with the appointment of Jeroen Weimar as Chief Operating Officer. Weimar will join on June 11 from Serco where he was Managing Director of its UK transport business with revenues of £530m employing over 7000 people.  His responsibilities included the National Traffic Control Centre, the Docklands Light Railway, the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme in London, and Serco’s joint ventures with Abellio that operate Merseyrail and Norther

The UK Railway Industry Association has appointed David Bill as its new International Development Director. Bill is a civil engineer by qualification and started his career in the railway electrification division of Balfour Beatty, where he became the Director responsible for a portfolio of international projects and international business development, of which he became director. He went to Hong Kong as General Manager for Rail and Power Transmission. For a two year period Bill was seconded

Richard Bowker has left his position as CEO of Etihad Rail, the company responsible for the United Arab Emirates'  US $11bn railway network construction programme, Bowker joined Etihad, formerly known as Union Railway, in 2009 after leaving Britain's National Express Group as it hit a finacial crisis and surrendered its East Coast franchise. He was previously chairman of the now defunct Strategic Rail Authority. He will join the English Football Association as an independent director. Et

When I was doing management training some years ago a frequent theme in college lectures was the difference between supplier-led and consumer-led organisations. Our lecturer had clearly identified the fact that many passenger transport operators were then still in the former camp. Whilst I instinctively knew he was right, it required quite a major effort of will to bend one’s thinking to see things through the eyes of the customer, particularly when the surrounding culture was generally no

Peter Huntley, 55, who died in a fall in the Lake District on 9 February, was a widely admired, energetic and innovative professional in the UK transport world who was about to embark on a further adventure in a multi-dimensional career. A keen cyclist, walker and climber, Huntley was in training for a gruelling 16-day trek to the North Pole in April in aid of charity Transaid, which tackles poverty in the developing world by providing better transport. Born in Hartlepool, Huntley entered the

Invensys Rail has appointed Chris Whawell as its new commercial director. He will be responsible for all the company’s commercial project activities in the UK and Northern Europe. Whawell brings over 10 years experience at senior level within the rail industry. His most recent role was as commercial director for Gailliford Try Plc. Prior to this, he worked for a number of industrial organisations including SSL, AMEC and the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong.

Richard McClean has taken over from Tom Clift as managing director at rail operator Grand Central. McClean (above) will continue as head of parent group Arriva’s Tyne & Wear Metro operation. Grand Central, which runs direct services between Sunderland, Hartlepool and London, was taken over by DB-owned Arriva UK in November 2011. Sean English, currently Grand Central’s operations director, will take on the new role of general manager.

Rail Europe, provider of European rail ticketing, has appointed Karen McClellan as managing director. She succeeds Vincent Dedecker, who has led Rail Europe since April 2007 and takes up a new position within Rail Europe’s parent company French National Railways SNCF. McClellan  has been with the company 10 years, and has held the positions of finance and systems director and deputy managing director. She has been responsible for overseeing the introduction of a back office bookin

Stagecoach has confirmed senior management teams at its rail companies South West Trains and East Midlands Trains, with Mark Steward  appointed operations director at SWT in place of Ian Johnston. Christian Roth takes up the position of engineering director and Andy West finance director with SWT. The new customer service director is Jake Kelly while Kelly Barlow takes charge of human resources and Brian Cook is director of safety & environment. Steward has led the operations team at Ea

Gary Umpleby  has been appointed the new chairman for the ITS (UK) Public Transport Interest Group (PTIG), Outgoing chairman Dr Chris Quereé founded the Group in 1999. PTIG has around 200 participants and covers travel information, ticketing, control, safety and security systems. Umpleby is general manager at Hogia Transport Systems.

Michael Leach has left his post as chief executive of ITSO and will become managing director of his own business and information technology consultancy MAJL Ltd. ITSO is the non-profit distributing membership organisation responsible for developing and maintaining the UK Government’s specification for smart and integrated ticketing, which has received government support up til the end of this year.  

Richard Parry-Jones, previously Vice President at Ford Motor Company, has been made Chairman-Designate of Network Rail. He will start with the company on 28 March as a non-executive director, taking up the position of chairman if his appointment is ratified by members at the company’s AGM in July when Rick Haythornthwaite steps down. Parry-Jones ,62, joined Ford as an apprentice and in 38 years with the company rose to be group vice president in charge of global product development, and c

Landor LINKS has been saddened by the death of Peter Huntley, who co-founded Local Transport  Today magazine in 1989 with Peter Stonham and Rod Fletcher. Huntley (54), a keen hiker, died after falling from High Street Fell in the Lake District on Sunday February 19. During his career, Huntley was known as an innovative and versatile businessman and change manager, latterly winning respect for his achievements in turning round performance at bus operator Go North East. His early career, pri

Kevin Carr has been appointed managing director of Go North East in succession to Peter Huntley, who left the business at the end of last year considering that he had completed the business turnaround he had been recruited to carry out six years ago. Carr, who had been MD on an interim basis, joined the company as an apprentice electrician in 1975 and has worked his way through the ranks. Go-Ahead chief executive David Brown said Carr’s understanding of the business and the role it plays i

Why is he on the list? Gallot is chief executive of the world’s largest private sector transport group. What kind of year has he had? Triumph to disaster. After completing the merger with Veolia, Gallot headed a company with €8bn turnover in 27 countries. Deals worth €3bn in the final quarter of 2011 included the contract to run the USA’s largest private bus system.  But in December the rug was pulled from under Gallot by Veolia’s announcement that it would

Why is he on the list? The International Union of Public Transport has become a big hitter in discussing, presenting and promoting a positive future for public transport. Flausch’s appointment as General Secretary from his previous presidency and leading role in Europe as the head of Brussels Transport has lifted it to an even higher level. What kind of year has he had? The UITP had a highly successful congress in Dubai, with a further strengthening of its mission to double public tra

Why is he on the list? Higgins is the leader of UK reforms which could have a far reaching influence nationally and internationally. What kind of year has he had? Dynamic. Higgins has pre-empted government legislation by taking up the agenda of the McNulty rail review. Network Rail has devolved responsibility for operations to regional MDs and led the creation of new co-operative alliances with the company’s engineering contractors and train operator customers. However questions may s

Why is he on the list? Leads SNCF, second only to DB in Europe and internationally. What kind of year has he had? Recovery strategy appeared effective in addressing  some structural issues, and financial agreements with the French state and track authority RFF have given SNCF a more solid foundation. International/domestic freight and local transport businesses grew rapidly and TGV performance recovered, but Pepy acknowledges profit margins across his €30bn business are well belo

Why is he on the list? Expansion-minded leader of Paris’s transport operations. What kind of year has he had? Potentially pivotal year in positioning RATP as a major player in European consolidation. The Veolia Transdev merger saw RATP take over 16 companies in return for its 25% stake in Transdev, establishing a direct presence in the UK and Switzerland and making it the largest  foreign operator in Italy. RATP now has a presence in 12 countries on five continents. Introduction o

Why is he on the list? Leads arguably the premier urban transport authority in Europe. What kind of year has he had? A huge year. Transport for London unveiled plans for the world’s first citywide contactless bankcard EMV payment system; the new version of the Routemaster was launched; and Johnson’s idea for a Thames estuary airport began to gain ground. Olympic plans are ahead of schedule and promise to leave a lasting legacy on demand management and communication systems as we

Why is he on the list? First could become the world’s largest private sector transport group following Veolia Transdev divorce. What kind of year has he had? The weaknesses in Moir Lockhead’s inheritance began to become apparent. The ‘recession-proof’ US school bus division saw margins fall below 1%; turning the UK bus division into an entrepreneurial business is proving a slow process; and the Great Western rail franchise will be handed back three years early. What

Why is he on the list? Continues to see opportunities in a way nobody else matches. What kind of year has he had? Solid achievement at Stagecoach, buccaneering deal making in private interests. Amid difficult economic conditions, Stagecoach confirmed the resilience of its growth-led business model, pushing bus margins to an astonishing 18%. No sign of slow down in ideas as Souter launched Megabus sleepers and mulled new concepts in market segmentation. In his private business, Souter Invest

Why is he on the list? Perhaps the key influence on forthcoming consolidation of European passenger transport. What kind of year has he had? Deutsche Bahn has made good on its promise to respect Arriva’s skills and independence and now refers to Arriva as its “entrepreneurial arm”. It puts Martin, a veteran of around 200 M&A deals, in a position to do what he enjoys best, leading business development. Financial statements suggest solid if unspectacular growth in 2011.

The major changes reshaping the passenger transport business are having a significant impact on where real power lies. They include the roles given to key individuals leading the sector and of the organisations controlling policy and finance, and those driving new developments in technology and service delivery. To reflect these tectonic shifts in how we should view power, influence and leadership in passenger transport, New Transit has restructured its annual and eagerly-awaited People Issue.

Six months away from the start of the Olympic Games in London, concerns remain at the ability of the transport system to perform at the required world leading level. A huge effort has been made by London to take the opportunity of the Games to showcase both the city and its transport system, with an emphasis on providing public transport services that cover the vast majority of the needs of participants and visitors. However, there are doubts – including amongst professionals involved

FirstGroup plc has announced changes to its management board. Sidney Barrie, the group’s commercial director is to retire and will step down from the board at the end of March. Audrey Baxter stepped down as independent non-executive director at the end of last year. Since 2009 she had chaired the Remuneration Committee, and has been succeeded by David Begg. Non-executive employee director Martyn Williams also retired at the end of last year at the end of his term, and Mick Barker, employ

Carole Coune has rejoined SNCB Holding, the Belgian state rail operator. Last August she was appointed president of the International Transport Forum of the OECD, but resigned unexpectedly in November. She is now back on the board of SNCB Holding responsible for the mobility files and the reform of the structures of the Belgian railways, in cooperation with the cabinet minister Paul Magnette. In 2005 she was made Director General of the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport and in 200

The Wright Group has hired Dr Alan Lennon as its new non-executive chairman. Alongside this appointment he will continue to serve as non-executive director of InvestNI, Business in the Community and Young Enterprise. Lennon replaces Jeff Wright who held the position of chairman since 2006. He will continue with the Wright Group as a non-executive director. Born and educated in Northern Ireland, Lennon gained a first class honours degree in mechanical engineering from Queens University Belfast,

FirstGroup has appointed Richard Parry in the newly created role in the West Coast Intercity rail franchise bid team. Parry joins the group after 19 years at Transport for London (TfL) in a range of senior posts. He was most recently the body’s deputy managing? director and director of strategy and commercial for TfL's London? Underground and rail divisions. ?Vernon Barker, managing director First UK Rail, said: “The wealth of experience that Richard brings will be invaluable? to

Neil Scales is leaving MerseyTravel as chief executive and director general to take over as chief executive of TransLink, the public transport authority in Brisbane, Australia, in March. Scales has spent 15 years at MerseyTravel. He said: “For me this is a challenge to make a real difference on the other side of the world and an opportunity of a once-in-a-lifetime experience Down Under.” Chair of Merseytravel Mark Dowd said: “I have worked with Neil Scales for 15 years, and h

A new recruitment firm specialising in railway engineering and construction has been set up by Andy Ridout. Advance Training & Recruitment Services is placing candidates in engineering, management and project services roles, both contract and permanent, in all of the major rail disciplines particularly focussing on signalling & telecomms, permanent way, electrification and power, civil/structural and rolling-stock. Andy Ridout has worked in the UK rail recruitment sector for 15 years in

­T­­he ‘rail product’ is only as strong as its weakest link, and that link is often the station. So it’s good to see some real positives emerging on the station front. Both big and small. I had a heart-warming start to 2012 when I travelled on a local train, in the ‘investment-starved’ North of England, and stopped at a brand new and impressive station. It’s called ‘Buckshaw Parkway’, located between Leyland and Chorley in Lancashire,

More than ever, the successful delivery of quality public transport is in the hands of leaders, visionaries and innovators who see a positive – and different – future for bus, tram, metro, rail and other increasingly varied elements of a passenger transport system that provides a real and complete alternative to dependency on the private car. Massive business activity, a huge part of national and local government responsibility, and a major opportunity for smart suppliers is offered

Mike Goggin has rejoined Steer Davies Gleave (SDG) as director – international advisory, after two years with Network Rail heading its stations activities. Before leaving SDG in 2009 Goggin led a number of high profile assignments for clients in the UK, North America and the Middle East.  As Network Rail’s director of stations and customer service, Goggin’s portfolio of activities included the organisation’s station strategy for its 2,500 plus railway stations, the

Peter Henderson, group asset management director at Network Rail, is to leave in 2012 after a decade with the organisation. He is one of the original board members of Network Rail, which he joined in 2002 as it acquired and succeeded Railtrack. Henderson has over 25 years experience as an engineer and project manager in the transport business, holding senior roles in  projects including the construction of the Tyne and Wear Metro and the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway.

Travel and transaction technology provider Amadeus has hired Thomas Drexler from DB as its new director of rail. His appointment follows the company’s establishment of a new businesses division to diversify the company and grow its rail, hotel, ground transportation and IT businesses. Drexler’s most recent role was vice president of sales at Deutsche Bahn, where he also held various commercial roles for the last eight years, and has helped spearhead the introduction of new technolo

First UK Bus has hired Lisa Mota Pinto as business development director. Pinto’s main areas of expertise are strategic and operational management leadership, commercial strategies, business development, re-structures and mergers and acquisitions activity. She has worked with a range of companies including the Serco Group, National Express, Arriva, Deutsche Bahn, DfT, Passenger Focus, PwC, Deutsche Bank and HighSpeed (UK & Abroad).  

Merseyrail has appointed Maarten Spaargaren (right) as its new managing director. He replaces another Dutch MD at Merseyrail, Bart Schmeink, who is leaving to become chief executive of GVB Amsterdam. Spaargaren worked as a consultant before joining Dutch national rail company NS in 1999. He has held various positions within NS from heading the timetable development department, to leading the bid for the High Speed Line South between Amsterdam and Brussels, to operations director. Spaargaren ha

Bryony Chamberlain has been appointed director of megabus.com, Stagecoach’s business in North America, in a switch of jobs with Edward Hodgson who returns to the UK  to take over as managing director, Stagecoach West Scotland. Hodgson has held the US post for three years, developing the inter-city and inter-state megabus.com network. Before that he was commercial director of Stagecoach South. Bryony Chamberlain joined Stagecoach in 1996 as a graduate trainee. She joined Coach USA

Peter Huntley is to step down as managing director of Go North East at the end of the year, to embark on a self-funded charity trek to the North Pole. He took up the role five years ago in a move from the TAS Consultancy, which he founded and led to return to operational management. He has more than 35 years experience in the bus industry, including periods working for local and national government on policy development. He has also written for trade publications on the public transport sector,

Elaine Holt will be joining National Express as bid director of its rail franchise procurement team in January. She was most recently employed at the Department for Transport as chief executive of Directly Operated Railways and chairman of the East Coast Main Line Company. She was previously managing director of First Capital Connect, and held a number senior positions across First Group.

Go Ahead has appointed Patrick Verwer as its new managing director of London Midland, moving up from his position as managing director of rail development with the group. Alex Hynes (right) takes over his previous role,  after being at  London Midland as commercial director since November 2007 when Govia started operating the franchise. Prior to that, Hynes was a key member of Go Ahead’s bid team and has also worked in rail consultancy and regulation. David Brown, Go Ahead&r

ScotRail has introduced train simulation software as an interactive training tool offering a “driver’s eye view” of the Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street line. Train Simulator 2012 allows trainee drivers to operate the trains seated in replicas of Class 170 diesel and Class 334 electric train cabs at Glasgow Central station. “The train cabs are so realistic that drivers usually forget they are training in the virtual reality world,” said a ScotRail spokeswo

The commissioning of the first automatic trains on the Paris Metro’s oldest and most popular line at the beginning of November  was a world first for operator RATP in terms of technology and organization. For the first time, an existing subway line has been automated without any major interruption to services. Until December 2012, when all trains will be automated, RATP is also tackling the challenge of combining both driverless automatic and manually driven trains on the same line.

Elaine Holt is to join National Express in January as a rail bid director after failing to agree a new contract with the government’s Directly Operated Railway (DOR) subsidiary. Holt, who is chairman of both DOR and its East Coast rail operation, was previously bid director at FirstGroup. After winning the First Capital Connect (FCC) contract she was appointed managing director of FCC, prior to joining DOR. National Express said her appointment signalled its commitment to retain a presenc

E­veryone knows - or should know - that it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it that counts. Just as this applies to speech, it applies to notices. Ah, notices; those lovely bits of communication that are peppered across public transport vehicles and terminii, and which all too often through their phrasing, syntax, vocabulary and lack of design can communicate hidden messages far more toxic than those the originators intended. And why is it that such notices are so often

Jorma Halonen has joined the Board of Optare as a non-executive director. Halonen, former chairman of Volvo Bus Corporation, is to replace David Stonehouse who stands down from the Optare board to pursue other business interests. Finnish born Halonen has nearly 20 years experience in the bus and truck industry. He spent seven years working with the Volvo Group, latterly as the group deputy chief executive and chairman of Volvo Bus Corporation. He is currently an independent non-executive direc

Simon Pearson has been appointed as regional revenue development manager for First’s bus operations in the North of England. Based  in Leeds, he will be responsible for developing ticketing strategies across First bus networks in the North (West and North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the North West). He joins First from East Coast Trains where he worked for 12 years and was head of retail development.

Suzanne Wise, general counsel for Premier Foods plc, will join Network Rail as general counsel in the new year. She takes over from Hazel Walker, group company secretary, who left Network Rail in September after nine years with the company. The new title of general counsel reflects a broader scope to the role that will encompass a new department — transparency, covering data protection, business ethics and access to information.  

Seven directors have been chosen by Network Rail to help shape the new business unit being developed to deliver capital projects. Most of the appointments will come into effect in April 2012. Roger Dickinson (pictured) is appointed regional director responsible for the north, including Scotland and London North Eastern routes, while Neil Thompson will manage the central region, which covers London North Western, and the Birmingham Gateway and King’s Cross projects. Nick Elliott will look

First Group is pioneering a new accreditation scheme to enhance the diagnostic skills of its inspection technicians and mechanics. The approach began with the assessment of all 350 inspection technicians. This was undertaken jointly by First and the Freight Transport Association. This identified a common training need to bring them all up to the standard required by the business. Graham Belgum, First UK Bus business improvement director, said: “Over the past five years technology has mov

Alexander Eriksen is the new chief executive at Nomad Digital, which provides the rail industry with broadband communications solutions. Eriksen, who is Danish and lives in the UK, founded Pulz8 and Commute Media, both of which developed applications for passenger, train operators and train builders. Nomad founder and executive chairman Nigel Wallbridge said: “Alexander knows our sector in detail and yet will bring a new perspective. He understands why we have been successful and the impo

Jonathan Crick has been appointed London Stansted Airport’s new commercial director. He joins from easyBus, where he is currently chief executive. His previous roles include 15 years’ experience at Monarch Airlines, including spells as commercial director and sales & marketing director. Crick says his priorities in the new role include increasing the number of airlines and passengers using the airport, the “very best retail facilities” and “maximising the commer

Management consultancy Boxwood has appointed Terry Morgan as a non-executive board director. Morgan’s role will involve deepening the company’s knowledge on transport and infrastructure. Since 2009 Morgan has been chairman of Crossrail, the £14.9bn project sponsored by the DfT and TfL. Prior to this, he was chief executive of Tube Lines, and before that group managing director, operations for BAE Systems. He is currently President of the Chartered Management Institute. Other

The UK Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has appointed three new non-executive directors — Mark Fairbairn, Stephen Nelson and Ray O’Toole. The appointments will run until until September 2015. Mark Fairbairn has been at National Grid since 1998. From 2003 to 2007 he was chief operating officer UK distribution and since 2007, executive director gas distribution. Stephen Nelson held a range of roles at drinks company Diageo from 1996 to 2003. He then worked at J Sainsbury’s bef

Libor Lochman has been unanimously elected new executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) by the CER General Assembly. He will take over from Johannes Ludewig, who is retiring at the end of this year. Lochman, who is currently CER’s deputy executive director, has an extensive knowledge of both the European rail sector and EU policy, said CER chairman Maruo Moretti. “He has tremendously contributed to the successful work of CER over the

First Group finance director Jeff Carr is leaving to become chief financial officer of Dutch international retailing group Royal Ahold. Carr spent four years as finance director at EasyJet before moving to First in 2009. Also at First, Vernon Barker joins the executive management team below board level as managing director of the UK Rail division. The post was filled by group chief executive Tim O’Toole  since the departure of Mary Grant in March. Barker has been managing director o

Carole Coune has taken over as secretary general of the International Transport Forum at the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based intergovernmental organisation. She was previously president of the management board at Belgium’s Transport Ministry. As a trained lawyer, she started her career with the Belgian National Railway. Coune replaces Jack Short, secretary general of the ITF since its inception in 2006 and previously with its predecessor the E

Merseyrail’s managing director Bart Schmeink is to join GVB Amsterdam as its new chief executive on 1 December. GVB is the public transport company of the greater Amsterdam area operating buses, trams, metros and ferries, and is responsible for its tram and metro infrastructure. Schmeink has been Merseyrail’s MD since 2008 and helped to ensure the operator’s “continued position as the most punctual train company in the UK”, said councillor Mark Dowd, chair of Merse

Alstom Transport UK & Ireland has appointed Terence Watson as its new managing director. He joined parent company Alstom Transport in 1994 as international commercial director for rail traction systems, and went on to hold many senior management roles both in the UK and, since 1999, in the company’s Paris headquarters. Watson said: “Alstom Transport has a long history in the UK and Ireland, from the supply of tube stock, regional trains, the West Coast Pendolino fleet and Dublin

The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) has appointed Alain Flausch (pictured) as new secretary general. He will take over at the end of year from Hans Rat, who will retire after 13 years as head of the UITP. Ousmane Thiam, most senior vice-president, will take over from Alain Flausch as president of the UITP. Flausch has been chief executive of the Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles (STIB), the public transport company in Brussels, for the last 1

Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter has agreed to make the opening address at this year’s major Travel 2020 exhibition and conference which will take place on the 2nd & 3rd November 2011 at Kia Oval, London. He will join transport minister Norman Baker in setting the scene for two days of wide ranging discussion about the future of passenger transport service and systems development. Event sponsor New Transit and partners RTIG INFORM are pleased to announce that three quarters of t

Merseytravel transport chief Mark Dowd has been elected to chair the Integrated Transport Authorities Special Interest Group for the Local Government Association. The ITA SIG brings together all six Integrated Transport Authorities (ITAs) in England. Dowd, who is chair of Merseytravel, said: “It is the responsibility of the ITAs to work together to ensure the best possible public transport service for the travelling public.” Bootle councillor  Dowd has worked in transport sinc

Andrew Wolstenholme takes over as the new chief executive of Crossrail at the end of August. He was previously director of innovation and strategic capability with Balfour Beatty, prior to which he was project director for the construction of Heathrow Terminal 5, and also acted as construction director on the Heathrow Express Rail Link and was BAA’s director of capital projects. He will oversee the construction of the £16bn Crossrail project opening at the end of the decade, which w

Mike Hodson, managing director of London Midland, part of the Go-Ahead Group, is to retire in December. A 37-year rail industry veteran, he joined British Rail through a graduate entry scheme. In July 2009 he became managing director of London Midland. David Brown, Go-Ahead Group’s chief executive, said: “Mike has had an extraordinary career in the railways industry, working his way to the top of his profession. Particular highlights include the development and introduction of the h

The Institution of Railway Operators (IRO) has appointed Fiona Tordoff as its new chief executive officer. For the last decade she has headed the Whitebridge Consultancy, which includes Network Rail, and National Express Group among its clients. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development with 20 years experience in the field of organisational change management, she takes over from Chris Daughton who is stepping down after leading the IRO for more than a decade. Tordoff said

Nework Rail has appointed Patrick Hallgate as its new route-managing director to lead its devolved business unit on the Western route.  Hallgate will be responsible for the development and operation of about 1,000 miles of railway covering London Paddington, Thames Valley, and the South West of England. His duties will include asset management, planning, maintenance and enhancement work. Hallgate is currently Network Rail’s programme director signalling and electrification, and was o

Gareth Llewllyn has been appointed director of safety and sustainable development at Network Rail. He previously had senior safety roles with National Grid, Anglo American, and the Renewable Fuels Agency. Network Rail’s chief executive David Higgins said Llewllyn was joining at a time of great change “when we need to make a further significant improvement to the safety culture of the business. His enormous experience across sectors and across the globe will be invaluable in deliver

French international transport operator Keolis has appointed David Franks as managing director for new franchises. In the newly-created post, Franks will be based in Keolis UK’s London office and will report to Alistair Gordon, Keolis UK chief executive. Keolis UK has prequalified for the InterCity West Coast Franchise, for which bidding starts in early 2012. Keolis is majority owned by French rail operator SNCF. Franks is the current chair of the Institution of Rail Operators (IRO) and

Stagecoach Group chief executive Brian Souter has received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday honours list. He becomes Sir Brian Souter for his service to transport and the voluntary sector. He co-founded Stagecoach with his sister, Ann Gloag, in 1980 with just two buses and developed the company into a leading international transport group in the UK and North America with 35,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than £2bn. “Having started my career in public tran

Richard Jeffrey, chief executive of Edinburgh’s tram project, has resigned after two years in the post. He had taken over at Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) after the resignation of Willie Gallagher in 2009, who also quit after two years in the role. Jeffrey’s departure followed a report to Edinburgh City Council, which said that work so far had cost £440m out of a total budget of £545m. The report also confirmed that up to 10 of Edinburgh’s unused tram veh

Network Rail has appointed Jo Kaye as its new route-managing director. She will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of over 2,000 miles of railway on the London North Western route. Kaye is currently the route’s director, but in an expanded role that takes effect from October, she will assume responsibility for maintenance and asset management as well as operating matters. The route covers the west coast main line from London Euston to the Scottish border north of Carlisle and th

DB Schenker Rail (UK) has appointed Dr Carsten Hinne as managing director logistics to head a strategic expansion of its intermodal and rail logistics division. Hinne will be responsible for expanding  existing services from UK seaports and inland terminals, with final onward road delivery as required. He will also help develop opportunities for UK customers with European and International supply chains, with particular emphasis on securing continental sized freight trains on the High Spee

Mark Langman is to lead Network Rail’s devolved business unit in Wales. He will lead a 1,400 strong team, and will oversee the management and operation of the railway throughout Wales and the English border counties from headquarters in Cardiff. The move forms part of the company’s recent devolution drive to increase its responsiveness to customers at a local level by creating the first independent Wales route in railway history. Langman said: “We have worked hard over the l

Network Rail’s former chief executive, Iain Coucher, received a £1m-plus compensation package on leaving the company in October, the company’s annual report and accounts have revealed. On termination of his contract, Coucher received a negotiated settlement to close out potential award rights under the long term incentive plan for Network Rail’s executives (£370,000), plus contractual payments for in lieu of notice amounting to 12 months’ salary. In total, hi

When Reading Buses chief executive James Freeman began his career  on the bottom rung of the industry in the late 1970s, in the then National Bus Company the most interaction he recalls having with his depot superintendent was being barked at for a minor breach of rules. In many ways, working in the UK bus industry at that time was akin to joining the military, with the culture dominated by discipline, regimented procedure and remote command and control management.  Three decades on

HS1 has appointed Rob Holden as chairman and Nicola Shaw as its new chief executive. Holden was previously the chief executive at Crossrail, and before that he had been chief executive officer of London & Continental Railways. Shaw (right) was on the board of FirstGroup PLC and led the company’s European bus division. Before FirstGroup, she was managing director, operations at the Office of the Rail Regulator. HS1’s outgoing managing director, Paul Chapman, declared his intenti

Cathryn Ross has joined the office of Rail Regulator (ORR) as executive director of railway markets and economics. Ross currently holds a board-level position at water regulator Ofwat, and is an experienced economist who has worked in a number of different sectors advising both private and public sector bodies on economic, regulatory and competition issues. The incoming ORR chief executive, Richard Price said: “Cathryn Ross is joining us as at a crucial time for the rail industry. She wil

Crossrail has appointed Andrew Wolstenholme, currently director of innovation and strategic capability at Balfour Beatty, as its new chief executive. His previous experience includes acting as project director for the construction of Heathrow Terminal 5, and overseeing construction of the £4bn terminal on time on budget. He was also construction director on the Heathrow Express Rail Link as BAA’s director of capital projects. Wolstenholme (right) begins his job at Crossrail in Se

An independent report commissioned by Network Rail has cleared former chief executive Iain Coucher of allegations claiming he had taken illicit payments and rejected claims that the company had used offshore accounts and cash payments to discourage departing employees from talking publicly about the reasons for leaving or taking legal action. The report also said: “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the TSSA (Transport and Salaried Staff Association) introduced a series of increasing

Design – a word that makes accountants purse their lips and lock the money away, and engineers stiffen their sinews and furrow their brow at this ‘interference’ in what they have carefully constructed. For these fellow professionals perceive that this dark art can have no place in their worlds of logic, order and symmetry. Design doesn’t have hard, defined boundaries like engineering or accountancy, nor does it conform to immutable and predictable rules. It evolves and ch

Like the bus industry, the rail industry has traditionally been associated with ‘command and control’ management. Arguably the most radical step any train operator has taken in an attempt to create a new culture has been implemented at Merseyrail, the 75 mile  conurbation train operation run by Serco with Abellio, where the Fast Lane project has moved beyond empowering staff to a philosophy of customer service standards and initiatives being staff-led. Effectively, staff now def

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has warned the rail unions that they must make a commitment to significant improvements in productivity if the rail industry is to have a secure future. Speaking at a conference ahead of the publication of Sir Roy McNulty’s value for money report on the rail industry, Hammond said that one of the most striking aspects of the work was its analysis showing that rail industry earnings had significantly outstripped those in other sectors. He considered that

Customer data gathered through loyalty card schemes is a crucial part of business planning in the retail industry and other consumer sectors like holidays and entertainment. It allows companies such as supermarkets, department stores, hotels and venues to hold precise records of what each customer buys, when they shop and how their preferences change over time. Individual customers are targeted with special offers which prompt changes in  their behaviour, leading to them trying new products

Women are the ‘great unseen’ in transport decision- making. Yet they make up the majority of bus users in Britain, and account for 46% of rail travellers. They are hugely under-represented in management, in many ‘front-line’ jobs such as drivers, and in policy and planning roles. Over the years a small number of determined campaigners and academics have produced plenty of evidence that women are losing out in transport provision and service delivery because their perspect

Transport for London has set out plans to make an extra £2.6bn of efficiency savings before 2018 in order to protect investment in frontline services. Total efficiencies are now expected to deliver savings of £7.6bn during the period. Major cost reductions highlighted by TfL in its new business plan include: £400m from ticket office changes driven by a reduction in 800 management and operations roles £375m from efficiencies in IT systems £460m in bu

Katarynza is a ‘Store Colleague’ for Boots. You can see her on the careers website (www.boots.jobs/stores/ roles/store-colleagues/). Beneath her image, it says, ‘If there’s one thing that’s part of everyone’s job description in store it’s this: delighting customers.’ Boots was one of the Sunday Times 25 Best Companies to Work For 2010. Marks & Spencer’s careers website has a similar homepage (www.corporate. marksandspencer.com/mscareers/

Cambridgeshire County Council has revealed that contractor BAM Nuttall has so far been docked £10m in fees as the firm is now two years late completing construction of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. The council has been deducting almost £14,000 a day in late delivery damages from BAM Nuttall since February 2009. Following a Cabinet meeting last week, senior councillors heaped more criticism on BAM Nuttall for  “unnecessary” further delays to the project. Althou

Candidates were judged on two key criteria - the clout that they wield in their current position, and the cultural influence that they exert over their peers. Our ambition was to take a snapshot of the individuals who run or influence the UK passenger transport sector in 2011. See how the list compared at the beginning of 2010. The New Transit Power 50 2011 Brian Souter Tim O’Toole

Why is he on the list? Campaign for Better Transport (previously Transport 2000) is the leading transport NGO. Joseph has been executive director of the organisation since 1988. What kind of year has he had? Headed by Joseph, CBT’s small team of campaigners are fighting hard for a pro-public transport agenda at a time when the government is slashing transport funding and the new transport secretary has expressed a desire to “end the war on the motorist”. It’s a big cha

Why is she on the list? Translink is Northern Ireland’s state-owned public transport operator. It includes NI Railways, Ulsterbus and Metro (Belfast’s bus operator). What kind of year has she had? More than 80 million passenger journeys were recorded on Translink’s bus and rail services during the last year. It was a difficult year with some setbacks, but Mason has highlighted the launch of the iLink smart ticketing system as evidence of continued progress. What’s com

Why is she on the list? As chair of the House of Commons’ transport select committee, Ellman’s role is to scrutinise the Department for Transport. What kind of year has she had? Power in Westminster may have changed hands in 2010 but the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside was re-elected to her post as chair of the Commons transport select committee. The second half of the year saw the committee publish reports on the performance of the Department for Transport and London Undergroun

Why is he on the list? The traffic commissioner is one of the bus industry’s regulators. They are responsible for ensuring that services are safe and reliable. What kind of year has he had? Balancing the need to secure the fundamental guarantee of the independent role that traffic commissioners perform in the unique context of their regulatory and judicial functions as a tribunal is an issue which Brown believes has been addressed robustly during 2009-10. What’s coming up in 2011

Why is he on the list? ATOC represents Britain’s passenger rail companies. ATOC has 140 staff and a £75m budget. What kind of year has he had? Generally very successful. ATOC has got its way on almost everything it asked for in the new franchising policy package with the government confirming that operators will get longer franchises and new responsibilities such as control over some stations. Set against that is the disastrous PR surrounding the January fare rises. What’s

Why is she on the list? The Garston and Halewood MP holds the transport brief in  Labour’s shadow cabinet. What kind of year has she had? At the start of 2010 Eagle was minister of state at both the government Equalities Office and the Ministry of Justice. She was previously a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions and the Northern Ireland Office. After the 2010 general election Eagle became the Shadow Solicitor General but on October 8 she was announced as the shadow se

Why is he on the list? Unite is Britain’s biggest union with two million members in every type of workplace. It was formed by a merger between two of Britain’s major unions, the T&G and Amicus. Unite’s passenger transport trade group has more than 95,000 members, including around 90% of the country’s bus drivers. What kind of year has he had? Len McCluskey became the most powerful man in British trade unionism when he was elected as general secretary of Unite. He h

Why is he on the list? London mayor Boris Johnson has described Ranger, a former transport consultant, as his “transport brain”. What kind of year has he had? Ranger left his job as a transport consultant to join Team Boris in May 2008. Transport is one of the key areas that the mayor of London has influence over and Ranger is at the heart of it - both as a frontman for the media or a behind the scenes fixer. What’s coming up in 2011? Ongoing industrial disputes, the e

Why is he on the list? A former Marine who served in the Falklands, Brown is Scotland’s new transport minister. His responsibilities include transport policy and delivery, public transport, roads, rail services and infrastructure, and air and ferry services. What kind of year has he had? Brown was serving as Scotland’s minister for skills and lifelong learning before taking on the transport brief in December. He took over from Stewart Stevenson, who resigned the post following cri

Why is he on the list? Kaye heads National Express Group’s UK bus business, which consists of 1,600 buses in the West Midlands and Dundee. What kind of year has he had? Kaye began 2010 as chief operating officer of FirstGroup’s 9,000-vehicle UK bus division. However, he and FirstGroup bus MD Nicola Shaw both mysteriously departed  the group in the summer. It didn’t take long for Kaye to find a new role as MD of NEG’s UK bus business. His new boss, Dean Finch, also

Why is he on the list? Eurostar operates high speed services between London and the continent. What kind of year has he had? Petrovic took over from Richard Brown as Eurostar’s CEO in April 2010. It’s been a transformational year for the company. On September 1, Eurostar achieved its ambition of transforming its business from a partnership between three railways - SNCF, LCR and SNCB - to a single, unified corporate entity. This new structure puts it in a better position to compet

Why is he on the list? National Express is the largest operator of scheduled coach services in the UK, linking 1,000 different destinations. What kind of year has he had? Cleaves took over as chief executive of Tube Lines after former boss, Dean Finch, departed for the top job at National Express Group. However, when Transport for London acquired the Tube infrastructure company in the summer, Cleaves moved on, later accepting Finch’s invitation to run National Express’s coach busi

Why is he on the list? His responsibilities don’t stretch beyond Brighton, but his influence certainly does. When the industry wants to show a new minister how good buses can be they take them down to the coast to see Roger. What kind of year has he had? Another year, another award for Go Ahead Group-owned Brighton & Hove. This time the company was named ‘The BAE Systems City Operator of the Year’ at the 2010 UK Bus Awards. The company is performing well and French is co

Why is he on the list? Smith is the independent chairman of ATOC, which represents the country’s train operating companies. What kind of year has he had? Smith has been interim chairman of ATOC since June 2009, carrying out the role in addition to his duties as managing director - rail development at the Go Ahead Group. However, he left Go Ahead on December 31 after securing the ATOC chairmanship on a permanent basis. What’s coming up in 2011? The Oxford graduate will need to dr

Why is he on the list? Weimar is responsible for Serco’s UK transport interests, which include the Docklands Light Railway and a 50% share of the Merseyrail and Northern franchises. What kind of year has he had? Weimar’s varied background is as an economist, management consultant and transport service operator. He joined Serco in March from Transport for London, where he was chief operating officer for enforcement and compliance. His appointment followed the promotion of Nick Brow

Why is he on the list? DB Regio UK, a subsidiary of German state railway company DB, owns Chiltern Railways, DB Tyne and Wear Ltd and 50% of London Overground. What kind of year has he had? Shooter began 2010 with the news that he had been awarded a CBE for services to the railway industry in the New Year’s Honours List. A month later in February, Shooter unveiled Chiltern’s £250m Evergreen III upgrade plan, which is intended to increase its share of the London-Birmingham r

Why is he on the list? Passenger Focus is the public body set up by the government to protect rail and bus passengers. What kind of year has he had? What a difference a year makes. In 2009, Passenger Focus was handed the role of representing bus passengers in England (outside of London), in addition to its existing role as rail users’ champion. However, Smith and his colleagues spent much of 2010 with an axe hovering over their heads. The watchdog was one of the ‘quangos’ th

Why is she on the list? Holt heads the government’s in-house train operator - Directly Operated Railways - which took control of the East Coast franchise in November 2009. What kind of year has she had? East Coast has now been in government hands for 14 months. DOR’s first annual report, published in November, reveals that the firm made a profit after tax of £1.2m between its incorporation in July 2009 and March 31, 2010. Passenger growth of 3% was achieved over the period.

Why is he on the list? RMT is the dominant union for rail station staff, Network Rail infrastructure workers and Tube workers. What kind of year has he had? Combative. Crow appears very much at home in the them-versus-us environment of cuts. His most high profile battle has been with Transport for London over staffing levels on the London Underground. It resulted in four 24-hour strikes in 2010. What’s coming up in 2011? Crow may exert some influence over Sir Roy McNulty’s plans

Why is he on the list? Morgan and his business partner, Brian King, have turned East Midlands bus operator Trent Barton into one of the world’s most admired local bus companies. And as the new chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, Morgan also represents the bus industry in the corridors of power. What kind of year has he had? Morgan is now Trent Barton’s “semi-retired” non executive deputy chairman, but he’s still very much in the thick of the ac

Why is he on the list? Valk is responsible for the international expansion of the Dutch railway company. In the UK, this includes the Merseyrail and Northern rail franchises and a London bus operation. What kind of year has he had? Together with its Northern Rail partner, Serco, Abellio brought a bit of Amsterdam to Leeds in September with the launch of the UK’s first CyclePoint at the city’s station. It enhanced Abellio’s reputation for importing new ideas. The year saw n

Why is she on the list? The Chipping Barnet MP Villiers is the transport minister responsible for rail, London (including Crossrail) and aviation. What kind of year has she had? Mixed. Villiers will have been delighted to become a minister but the moment must have been tinged with disappointment at missing out on the top job at the Department for Transport. Villiers served as shadow secretary of state for transport for almost three years prior to last year’s election, but it was Philip

Why is he on the list? Gisby is the Network Rail board member responsible for ensuring trains run on time and minimising the impact of Network Rail's engineering work on train operations. What kind of year has he had? In a speech last Autumn, Gisby signalled the start of the change of direction for Network Rail that chairman Rick Haythornthwaite has started, and David Higgins has helped to steer behind the scenes, before he formally takes up the role of chief exective in February. Gisby proms

Why is he on the list? Inskip heads Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, which promotes and develops public transport across the region, and PTEG, which represents England’s six PTEs. What kind of year has he had? Geoff Inskip was number two at Greater Manchester’s PTE before he got the top job at Centro. The beginning of this year saw him take on an additional responsibility as the new chair of PTEG, taking over the role from Merseytravel boss Neil Scales. W

Why is he on the list? French group Transdev is one of the largest public transport operators in Europe with annual turnover of £3bn. In the UK, it runs buses in London, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Bournemouth, and is part of the consortium that operates Nottingham trams. What kind of year has he had? Transdev is in the process of merging with Veolia Transport, another French transport group. Last year, it emerged that Lebreton will be the CEO of this new £8.5bn global transport gia

Why is he on the list? The OFT has a big influence on public transport in the UK. Fingleton and his colleagues assess whether markets work well for consumers. Critics accuse the OFT of applying rigid economic theories that do not relate to the realities of markets. What kind of year has he had? In 2009 the OFT launched its market study into the supply of local bus services and this concluded that there was evidence to suggest that limited competition may be leading to higher prices for bus us

Why is he on the list? Modest Warneford tends to shy away from publicity. He’s resists all interview requests. However, while ideas man Souter occupies the limelight, it is Warneford who has direct day-to-day responsibility for Stagecoach’s 8,000-strong UK bus fleet. What kind of year has he had? Stagecoach’s UK bus division has out-performed its peers during the recession, but the major event of 2010 was the purchase of the 1,400-vehicle East London Bus Group in a £52

Why is he on the list? Jorge Cosmen represents the interests of Spain’s Cosmen family in National Express Group, the UK bus, coach and rail operator. What kind of year has he had? Relatively quiet after the events of 2009, when the Cosmens first put together a consortium to buy National Express and, after it was rebuffed, backed an unsuccessful bid by Stagecoach to acquire the company. The past 12 months has seen an armistice between the Cosmens and the power brokers of the NEG board.

Why is he on the list? Branson’s Virgin Group owns 51% of the intercity operator Virgin West Coast. What kind of year has he had? Frustrating no doubt. Virgin again failed to land an extension to its West Coast contract in return for bringing trains into service, so new Pendolinos will sit idle as a result. And performance on the West Coast continues to do little for the Virgin brand image. Is his flirtation with rail waning as his attention turns to  Formula One, submarine explora

Why is he on the list? The Brussels machine is having an increasing influence on UK transport and Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, is the EU’s transport commissioner What kind of year has he had? The opening up of Europe’s railways to competition has been a major focus of the commission. How will it be regulated, and how can investment be attracted? What’s coming up in 2011? The European Commission is drawing up new rules on the award of service concessions th

Why is he on the list? Brown heads London Underground, which carries one billion passengers a year. He is also MD of London Rail, overseeing many projects including the London Overground, the East London Line, expansion of the Docklands Light Railway, and the roll-out of Oyster ticketing to rail services. What kind of year has he had? The former Heathrow Airport MD has been in the spotlight as a result of sustained industrial action by Tube workers. He has also added London Rail to his res

Why is he on the list? Brown is responsible for London’s 8,000-vehicle bus network, street management, the congestion charge, taxis, river services, dial-a-ride and Victoria Coach Station. What kind of year has he had? Brown has been implementing the policies of London mayor Boris Johnson - withdrawing bendy buses, pushing forward with the ‘Son of Routemaster’, introducing the cycle hire scheme and axing the western extension of the congestion charging zone. What’

Why is he on the list? Lewes MP Norman Baker is a transport minister. His responsibilities include regional and local transport, buses and light rail. What kind of year has he had? Eventful. At the start of 2010 few would have predicted that the Lib Dem’s transport spokesman would be a minister within months. However, the formation of a coalition government saw Baker become one of the Lib Dem’s frontbench team. Some said he would struggle to work with his new Tory colleagues, but

Why is he on the list? Pépy heads SNCF, the French national railway company. He is also a non executive director of French transport group Keolis, which is part-owned by SNCF and has a stake in four rail franchises in England. What kind of year has he had? Pépy is seeking to guide SNCF through liberalisation of European rail markets, a new official ‘green’ policy, militant rail unions, and instructions from President Sarkozy to boost capital expenditure in the mid

Why is he on the list? The former easyJet man heads the UK’s third largest bus business. Arriva’s 6,000-strong fleet generated annual turnover of £961.5m in 2009. What kind of year has he had? Cooper begun a restructuring of Arriva’s UK bus division aimed at re-focusing local operational management on developing existing and new relationships with key local authorities, PTEs and other stakeholders. What’s coming up in 2011? Like the rest of the industry, Arriv

Why is he on the list? Fearnley is chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, Journey Solutions, the bus and rail industry initiative to promote integration, and Greener Journeys, the UK bus and coach industry’s pro-bus campaign, and London-Sunderland open access train operator Grand Central. He is also the new MD of FirstGroup’s 8,500-vehicle UK bus business. What kind of year has he had? Fearnley played a key role in persuading ministers to retain the Bus Service Oper

Why is she on the list? Walker heads the Office of Rail Regulation, the independent safety and economic regulator of Britain's railways. What kind of year has she had? Less eventful than it could have been. Conservative sabre rattling in opposition never led to proposals for significant rail budget reductions. It has saved Walker from having to defend the industry’s five-year settlement or finding a way round complex legal issues in order to cut it. A generally low profile. Does that in

Why is he on the list? Finch heads National Express Group, which runs 1,600 buses in the UK, two rail franchises (c2c and National Express East Anglia) and the express coach network from which it takes its name. What kind of year has he had? The former Tube Lines boss joined National Express in February during turbulent times and he has steered the group into calmer waters. Senior appointments have been made across the group. The UK bus business recovery plan, launched in the summer, is deliv

Why is he on the list? Arriva operates the Welsh and Cross Country rail franchises in the UK, and a fleet of 6,000 buses. What kind of year has he had? 2010 saw Sunderland-based Arriva sold to Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state-owned railway company, in a £1.6bn deal. Martin has stayed on as the group’s chief executive, but he now answers to Berlin, not the City. What’s coming up in 2011? DB is unlikely to start changing things. Part of its desire to buy Arriva is its

Why is she on the list? This month saw Lin Homer replace Robert Devereux as permanent secretary of the Department for Transport. What kind of year has she had? Homer spent the year as chief executive of the UK Border Agency, and she leaves at a time when the organisation is under fire. A critical report by the Commons home affairs select committee says that UKBA is still failing to meet expectations - 60,000 asylum seekers appear to have been lost without trace. The report also said the sa

Why is he on the list? Germany’s state-owned rail company has growing influence in the UK. DB runs Chiltern Railways and London Overground, and last year it added transport group Arriva and the Tyne & Wear Metro to its portfolio. What kind of year has he had? It’s been tough. The austerity package passed by the German government last year requires DB to pay a €500m dividend to taxpayers this year. And the need to cut costs is effecting performance and has been cited in DB

Why is he on the list? If it moves in London, Hendy is responsible for it. He has served as the city’s Transport Commissioner since 2006. What kind of year has he had? Hendy was recruited from the private sector by former mayor Ken Livingstone, but Boris Johnson has been happy to retain Ken’s man as transport supremo. Hendy’s experience has been invaluable to Johnson as he seeks to push forward major projects like Crossrail while cutting back on spending. Hendy’s othe

Why is he on the list? Network Rail owns and operates Britain's rail infrastructure. It employs 35,000 people across 850 sites and handles annual revenues of £6.1bn. What kind of year has he had? In September, Higgins was appointed as Network Rail’s new chief executive and successor to Iain Coucher, who stepped down in October. Higgins was previously chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, where he has been for five years. He left the Olympic Park on time, within bud

Why is he on the list? Go Ahead Group is responsible for 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises. The group also operates 3,500 buses. What kind of year has he had? During his five years at the helm of Go Ahead, Ludeman has successfully managed significant strategic change. Last year, the group sold its aviation ground handling operations and its Meteor parking business, leaving it to focus on its core business of running bus and rail services. But in Octob

Why is he on the list? Hammond is responsible for delivery of the coalition government’s transport commitments. What kind of year has he had? It was a surprise when the former shadow chief secretary to the Treasury was handed the transport brief by the new coalition government last year, and there were groans when he pledged to end the “war on the motorist”. However, Hammond was regarded as one of the ‘winners’ in last Autumn’s Comprehensive Spending Revie

Why is he on the list? O’Toole is the new chief executive of FirstGroup, the UK’s largest operator of bus and rail services. Aberdeen-based FirstGroup has a fleet of 8,500 buses across the country and operates four rail franchises - ScotRail, First Great Western, First Capital Connect and First TransPennine Express. What kind of year has he had? It’s been a huge year for the former London Underground boss. In June, the American was appointed as FirstGroup’s chief op

Why is he on the list? Souter remains the heartbeat of Stagecoach and a highly influential figure within the industry. He remains a free spirit who is willing to speak his mind and put money behind his ideas. Together with his sister, Ann Gloag, he still owns around a quarter of Stagecoach. The Perth-based group operates two rail franchises and two tram systems. It also operates a fleet of 8,000 buses in England, Scotland and Wales. Souter also has a 30% stake in Falkirk-based Alexander Dennis,

Ten, even five years ago, pursuing a transport story was relatively straightforward for journalists. It was simply a matter of picking up the phone and grilling the big names. Even transport group main board directors could often be reached on a casual whim and generally relied upon to give a view across the business. Times have changed. Throughout the vast majority of the industry, there is now a process to be followed, with requests made through PR officers, and appointments scheduled. Acces

1993-1994 - Management Trainee, British Rail After graduating from the University of Wales with a BSc in International Transport, Goggin went through BR’s Management Training Scheme. 1994-1997 - Railtrack & Regulatory Affairs Manager, Merseyrail Electrics 1997-1998 - Business Analyst, MTL This role saw Goggin investigate the feasibility of setting up a bus business in Pakistan while providing policy advice to MTL’s two rail franchises. 1998-2004 - Various roles, Rail

For years, stations have had a reputation as the Cinderellas of the rail network, most recently because they have been perceived as having a low priority on Network Rail’s agenda. Train operators have complained that the company has been a poor landlord, distant and slow to respond to requests for improvements. However, last year Network Rail sent a powerful signal that a change of direction could be imminent with the creation of a new role - director of stations and customer service. Th

We have called this ‘The People Issue’.  And there’s certain plenty of people and leadership-related material within our pages for the first issue of New Transit in 2011. Our annual Power 50 List has again spotlighted those who are at the core of shaping and running the UK’s public transport system. Top of our list this year is Brian Souter, the ever-energetic and always influential chief at Stagecoach. His career has rarely been without controversy, and he has had

Go Ahead Group has announced the appointment of Keith Down as its new Finance Director. Down,  formerly Finance Director of JD Wetherspoon plc, will replace Nick Swift, who is leaving to join British Airways as Chief Financial Officer, on March 7. The move means Go Ahead will have an all new main board when Chief Executive Keith Ludeman retires on July 4. As previously announced, Ludeman will be replaced by David Brown Managing Director, Surface Transport of Transport for London. Brown will

Scottish first minister Alex Salmond yesterday appointed Keith Brown as Scotland's new minister for transport and infrastructure. Brown takes over the post following the resignation of Stewart Stevenson from the government at the weekend. The beleaguered minister resigned over his handling of the travel chaos experienced in Scotland during the recent extreme winter weather. Snow brought much of Scotland's central belt to a standstill earlier this week with the main M8 motorway between Edinbur

Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has announced the appointment of Lin Homer as the new permanent secretary at the Department for Transport. body Homer, who has been chief executive of the UK Border Agency since 2005, was chosen following an open competition.

Go Ahead has announced the retirement of chief executive Keith Ludeman next year. He will be succeeded by David Brown, the present managing director of surface transport at Transport for London. Brown will join the London-based group as deputy chief executive on April 1, 2011 and will assume the office of Go Ahead chief executive following the retirement of Ludeman on July 4. David Brown has 27 years’ transport experience, having started his career as a London Transport trainee in 1983.

Bill Emery has announced his intention to step down as chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation in June 2011. He was appointed to his current role in September 2005. Prior to this Emery was director of costs and performance and chief engineer at water industry regulator Ofwat, which he joined in 1990. Before that he worked for Yorkshire Water. A chartered civil engineer, he has an engineering degree, a doctorate and an MBA.

National Express Group has announced the appointment of Dave Kaye as the new managing director of the group’s UK bus division. He succeeds Neil Barker who has been appointed to the new role of European development director. In this new European role, Barker will spearhead, from an operational perspective, the development of new opportunities for NEG across Europe. Kaye joins NEG from FirstGroup where he was most recently chief operating officer of the group’s UK bus division, but p

An Arriva the Shires and Essex depot manager went ‘back to the floor’ as part of an initiative to mark this year’s National Customer Service Week (October 4-8). Sean Smales is based at the Watford garage, and is responsible for bus services across the town and beyond. However, on October 7, the depot manager spent the whole day out on the buses, living a day in the life of an Arriva passenger. Travelling on eight different routes, Smales talked to Arriva passengers to get fee

Adrian Shooter, the chairman of Deutsche Bahn’s UK rail division and self-proclaimed manager of the Beeches Light Railway (that’s the narrow gauge steam railway in his back garden!), recently embarked on an adventure. Along with wife Barbara (guard and catering manager of the BLR!), he embarked on a 9,000 mile journey from Peking to Paris in his vintage 1930 Ford Model A to raise money for The Ponheary Ly Foundation, a Cambodian-based charity. They were joined on the journey by a h

We’ve had another Underground strike so here is a story from nearly 20 years ago with a moral... In 1984 when I started London Pride Sightseeing we used to employ a crew of two - a driver and a guide. London Transport’s Sightseeing Tour had been completely unguided but you did get a helpful map. Cityrama ran in opposition with multilingual commentaries fed into headphones. When the competition heated up LT also offered a guide on some, and then eventually all departures. Our guides

Stagecoach founder and chief executive Brian Souter has lifted the lid on his business dealings outside the Perth-based group with the launch of a new public face for his Souter Investments business, along with the promise of an annual review. The entrepreneur has also revealed that the value of the Souter Investments portfolio has risen by 41% over the last three years, with investments in March this year totalling £400m. Explaining his reasoning for adopting a more public persona for

National Express has today confirmed the appointment of Neil Barker, the managing director of the group's UK bus division to the new role of European development director. The change has also seen the recruitment of Dave Kaye, the former chief operating officer of First's UK bus division, as Barker's successor. He will take up his new role from Monday. Kaye is an experienced transport specialist who has been in the industry since 1979. He has held a number of senior management appointments i

David Mackay, the chairman of Transport Edinburgh, Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams has today made public his decision to step aside, with immediate effect, from his position at all three organisations. His design to resign follows continuing problems with the troubled Edinburgh Tram project. Last month local councillors iapproved plans to truncate the city’s first tram line because building the whole route is unaffordable. The tram line was supposed to link Edinburgh Airport with Ne

Stagecoach has confirmed industry rumours with the news that Stagecoach Manchester managing director Mark Threapleton has been named as the new head of the group's recently acquired London bus operations. Earlier this month Stagecoach acquired the bus operations of the East London Bus Group from administrators in a £53m deal. With Threapleton's move south, Chris Bowles, currently the managing director of Carlisle-based Stagecoach North West, has now been appointed as managing director of

Go Ahead this morning announced the retirement of chief executive Keith Ludeman next year. He will be succeeded by David Brown, the current managing director of surface transport at Transport for London. He will join Go Ahead on April 1, 2011 as deputy chief executive and will assume the office of chief executive following the retirement of Ludeman on July 4. "I will have served the transport industry for 40 years when I retire next year,” said Ludeman in a statement released this

Bill Emery has announced his intention to step down as chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation in June 2011. Commenting on his decision, Emery said: “I have had a great five years at ORR and it has been a privilege to lead it through a period of significant change. During this time the rail industry has achieved best ever levels of performance and safety and we have made substantial improvements to the regulatory regime to enable Network Rail and its industry partners rise to the

Stagecoach Group chief executive Brian Souter has received a major UK entrepreneur award. The co-founder of Stagecoach, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, was named UK Master Entrepreneur of the Year at an awards ceremony in London last night. The honour was one of 12 presented at the 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, which celebrate those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses. The awards, part of a global programme in 50 coun

I  know it is thoroughly juvenile and unfair but the mental image of the TUC Conference in Manchester as Jurassic Park is completely irresistible. It is not that the beasts are dumb or benign, I am quite sure they are not. Bob Crow is an uncompromising Tyrannosaurus Rex - you eat what you kill, as the bankers say - but it is a different world, surrounded by verdant hills and accessible only by air. It is not the only place accessible only by air; there’s Sarah Palin’s politics

FirstGroup has announced that chief executive Sir Moir Lockhead is to stand down from his role early next year after 21 years at the head of the Aberdeen-based transport group. He will be succeeded by former London Underground boss Tim O’Toole, who was named as chief operating officer of the group earlier this year. “I firmly believe that timing is everything and with FirstGroup in a strong position to continue its successful development the time is right for me to hand over to an

FirstGroup has announced that former London Underground boss Tim O’Toole is to succeed Sir Moir Lockhead as the chief executive of the Aberdeen-based group. Lockhead will retire from group in March next year after 21 years as the head of the business that he has steered from a small Aberdeen-based bus operator to the world’s largest transport group. O’Toole joined First in May 2009 as a non-executive director and was subsequently appointed chief operating officer and deputy c

Rail infrastructure operator Network Rail has announced that David Higgins, the current chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, has been named as its new chief executive. Higgins will assume his new role in February following the decision by Iain Coucher to step down from Network Rail at the end of October. Before joining the ODA in 2006, Higgins was the chief executive of Lend Lease, an international property and construction company from 1995 to 2002 before joining English Partner

Two rail industry employees have been selected for a special bursary, funding them through the Institution of Railway Operator’s highly regarded Degree in Railway Operational Management. Such was the standard of those applying for the bursary, given in memory of former IRO chairman and Network Rail director of operations Derek Holmes, a decision was taken to make two awards. The recipients are Kath Carroll, a train driver for First TransPennine, and Richard Perrin, a duty control manager

Few would consider a trip to a fancy dress shop before a major industry conference, but Hull-based EYMS Group chairman Peter Shipp did just that. As the boss and sole owner of one of the two former National Bus Company subsidiaries that remain in independent ownership, the other being TrentBarton, Shipp was the target of Brian Souter, Stagecoach’s expansion-minded chief executive back in 2006. The Scot expressed frustration - and perhaps a hint of admiration - at the stubborn refusal of s

A pioneering Green Transport Charter was signed in the West Midlands last month in a move that aims to help cut carbon emissions and flight climate change. The charter, which is being spearheaded by transport authority Centro, has seen the region’s transport industry sign a pledge to work together in support of the environment. Companies have agreed a course of actions aimed specifically at tackling climate change. Those signing up have pledged to: • reduce carbon emissions and oth

After 21 years at the helm of FirstGroup and its predecessor companies, Sir Moir Lockhead has announced that he will retire. He will be succeeded at the end of next month by former Tube boss Tim O'Toole, who joined the board of the Aberdeen-based group as a non executive director in May 2009, before his appointment as deputy chief executive in June 2010. FirstGroup chairman Martin Gilbert said that Lockhead had made an outstanding contribution to FirstGroup and to the transport industry as a wh

National Express Group has appointed Andrew Cleaves as the new managing director of its coach division. Cleaves joins National Express from Tube Lines where he was chief executive following a 10-year career in a number of senior commercial roles with the organisation responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. Prior to Tube Lines, Cleaves worked in sales and marketing for Otis plc and as a consultant to PA Consulting. He has an MBA from Cranfield S

Networking The Young Railway Professionals will soon celebrate it’s first anniversary. YRP was formed in October 2009 and has already made large strides in its aim of becoming the comprehensive network for young people working in the railway industry. The group’s network has grown to include all types of industry professionals, including apprentices, drivers, graduates, managers with the group now comprising well over 500 members. The YRP aims are summarised by the three actions, pr

Arriva won a Company Driver Safety Award at the annual Fleet Safety Awards presented by the road safety charity Brake earlier this summer. The award is in recognition of the use of a new system that reduces accidents, costs and carbon. The judges were impressed to hear that after installing 21st Century’s ‘EcoManager’ system to its North West fleet, Arriva saw a 62% reduction in accidents in the first year.  And following the early success of the system in reducing acci

A team of ladies from the Scottish bus industry has raised more than £7,000 for a rescue centre for girls in Kenya. The four ladies and their friends climbed Glas Tualaichean, one of Scotland's 283 Munros, to raise money for Walk for Water on August 1. The ladies were recruited for this challenge by the Balcraig Foundation, which was founded in 1992 by Ann Gloag, co-founder of Scottish transport group Stagecoach. By reaching the 1,051-metre summit, the walkers received sponsorship totali

Members of the TSSA union have voted three to one in a ballot for strike action in a dispute over proposals by London Underground to reduce ticket office hours at a number of Tube stations in the capital. Members of the RMT are also considering strike action over the issue. As the leadership of the TSSA and RMT met today to consider strike dates on the Tube network, LU today urged them to call off the threatened action and recognise that as a result of the widespread use of the Oyster smart t

Richard Hall has been appointed as the new area managing director of Arriva Scotland West, responsible for 178 buses, over 430 staff and 17 million passenger journeys a year. A key part of Hall’s job is building local relationships with key stakeholders and customers in Scotland, and working on the planned introduction of statutory quality partnerships (SQPs) in both Paisley and Glasgow. Hall has spent over 15 years in the transport industry and was most recently at Veolia Transport UK w

From the classroom to the boardroom? Anything seems possible for IRO student Andrew Dickinson, whose hard work has earnt him a degree in Railway Operational Management. Already a station manager for First Great Western at just 25, Dickinson joined 16 other dedicated learners for a special graduation ceremony held in Glasgow on July 7 and staged by the IRO and its delivery partner, Glasgow Caledonian University. The event saw eight students awarded the IRO diploma in Railway Operational Manageme

There are many people holding a range of high management positions in Stagecoach’s Uk bus business who started their careers as trainee drivers or conductors. Yet with the introduction of the management training scheme in 1996, many drivers may believe that the fast lane to management is only along that route. Three operations managers in Stagecoach South are definite proof that there is career progression ‘through the ranks’. The first is Rob Vince, 44, from Petersfield, who

Go Ahead chief executive Keith Ludeman has received an honorary degree from the University of Salford for his achievements in transport services. Ludeman received a Masters degree in Transport Engineering & Planning from Salford University in 1975 and the honorary doctorate has been awarded in recognition of the senior positions he has held in transport during a career spanning nearly 40 years.  

Go Ahead’s bus operations on the south coast have announced a number of personnel changes. Go South Coast has appointed Ed Wills as divisional director with responsibility for its Wilts & Dorset, Eastleigh-based Bluestar and Uni-Link operations. Wills joins from local rival Transdev Yellow Buses where he was head of operations. Marc Morgan-Huws, the former operations and commercial manager of Southern Vectis becomes divisional director with responsibility for the Isle of Wight-based

In 2006, a year after London was announced as the host city for the 2012 Olympics, Hugh Sumner was formally installed as the ODA’s £288,000 a year transport director. It is the culmination of a career which has been spent managing and planning the capital’s public transport systems and began straight after attaining an MBA from Cranfield. At that time London Transport used to recruit several MBA graduates each year. They told Sumner: “We’ll allow you to do insane th

The final composition of the parliamentary transport select committee has been revealed. It will continue to be chaired by Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman. Members include Ealing Central & Acton MP Angie Bray, who was previously a member of the London Assembly Transport Committee during her time as a Conservative member of the London Assembly. Meanwhile, former rail minister Tom Harris, the Labour MP for Glasgow South, has also been appointed. The remainder of the committee comprises

When Nicola Shaw took the reins at FirstGroup’s UK bus business in 2005 there were doubters. Shaw had no prior experience of running a bus company, but the doubts were not over her ability. She was clearly one of the industry’s high fliers. Although still in her mid-thirties, her career had already included roles at the Office of Rail Regulation, the World Bank, London Transport, Bechtel and the Strategic Rail Authority. The doubts were about whether Shaw had signed up for the lead r

The final composition of the influential parliamentary transport select committee has been revealed after their appointment by the House of Commons. It will continue to be chaired by Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman. The committee includes Ealing Central & Acton MP Angie Bray, who was previously a member of the London Assembly Transport Committee during her time as a Conservative member of the London Assembly. Meanwhile, former rail minister Tom Harris, the Labour MP for Glasgow South,

Go Ahead's bus operations within Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has announced changes to its senior management. Two new divisional directors have been appointed to jointly oversee the £70m regional Go South Coast operation which employs over 1500 people and has a vehicle fleet of 600 buses and coaches. Ed Wills will join as divisional director in September. He leaves his current position as head of operations for Bournemouth’s Transdev Yellow Buses to take operat

A formidable team of ladies from the Scottish bus industry are to climb one of Scotland's 283 Munros to raise money for Walk for Water on August 1. The ladies have been recruited for this challenge by the Balcraig Foundation, which was founded in 1992 by Ann Gloag, co-founder of Scottish transport group Stagecoach. The foundation supports the Soila Maasai Girls Rescue Centre in Kenya's Rift Valley, which provides support and education to 100 Maasai girls between the ages of 8 to 16 years old.

As we enter a period of austerity, it is clear that investment in public transport is going to dry up. There will be less money for new infrastructure and new vehicles, and this is causing anxiety throughout the sector. However, little or no mention has been made of the threat to one of the most important investments made in public transport - it’s management. Public transport requires a wide range of skills. It requires people skills: even junior managers in this labour-intensive industr

A restructuring programme at Centro, the West Midlands PTE, has seen Stephen Rhodes, the organisation’s bus and highways director take on the new position of passenger services director. The restructuring has also seen the creation of a new strategy and commissioning directorate, led by former policy & strategy director Tom Magrath and a new corporate services directorate led by Steve Chatwin, the former organisation, change and development director. James Aspinall, formerly financ

Serco and Abellio have announced the appointment of Ian Bevan as managing director of their Northern Rail train operating company. He joined Northern as finance director in 2005 and has also held the role of deputy managing director since 2008. However, since the departure of Heidi Mottram earlier this year to join Northumberland Water Group as chief executive, Bevan has held the managing director role on an interim basis. Meanwhile, Bevan’s appointment has been complemented with the ne

Transport for London has announced the appointment of Andie Harpur as the new chief executive of London Underground infrastructure firm Tube Lines. He succeeds Andrew Cleaves who has left the firm following it’s acquisition by TfL last month. Harpur comes to Tube Lines from global consultancy AECOM. He has a wealth of experience in the transport sector, including running the predecessor infraco for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines between 1999 and 2002. More recently he was a

Most great and effective leaders seek control - Reagan didn’t but war leaders from Stalin to MacArthur did, and Wellington had a microscopic knowledge of and control over his forces. So, coming rapidly down to earth, we should not hold Iain Coucher’s mania for centralisation against him. What separates the great and effective from the failures is not about style, it is about being right, and it is about working with, and not against, the grain of events. The story of the Coucher ye

They are the young guns who will change how we travel in the future. They are the strategists, the commercial brains, the operational experts and the motivational leaders who will lead public transport into a bright future. We present our list of ‘40 under 40’ people from the public transport sector in its broadest sense. Many are up and coming; others have already made it. What unites them is that they are responding to the changing way in which the public chooses to travel, and th

Jenkins recently joined FirstGroup as UK Bus finance director, having spent the last eight years working in the aviation sector, latterly as CFO of Menzies Aviation. Heathrow-based Menzies provides passenger and ramp, cargo handling, and aviation services to the aviation market. It offers terminal check in and ticketing, baggage, passenger transfer, and the management of passenger lounges. Prior to joining Menzies Aviation, he worked within Ernst & Young’s Transaction Support and Busin

Sephton joined bus and train operator Go Ahead Group in 2001 and was appointed as group company secretary in July 2006. She was previously assistant company secretary for the group. Prior to working for Go Ahead, Sephton spent 12 years working for Northern Electric, predominantly in the field of pensions. Age: 37  

After graduating from Oxford Brookes University in 2001 with a marketing degree, Rideout joined Stagecoach as a marketing assistant for the old South Midlands region. He then progressed to become marketing manager and lead on many projects including the successful relaunch of the Oxford Tube coach service in 2004. A year later he became marketing manager for two Stagecoach businesses (Stagecoach East & Stagecoach in Warwickshire) working on numerous high profile projects including the intr

At Chiltern Railways Ableman has impressed some of the industry’s most senior managers. He is known for his ability to analyse why patronage may be ahead of or behind targets and recommend strategies to capitalise on operators’ strengths and address weaknesses. Ableman began his career in public transport at National Express Group and served for a period as strategy director for the company’s bus and coach division. However, he found a new home at Chiltern after his role was

Milne graduated in 2001 with a degree in French, German and marketing at Salford University. Her first job was in a marketing and sales role at a concert and music venue in the Isle of Man. Milne is now marketing manager at Stagecoach’s North East bus subsidiary, but is also responsible for marketing of the group’s budget Megabus coach service. “There is a lot of confusion about what marketing actually is,” she says. “Many still think of it as only advertising, whi

Arriva Yorkshire’s Leach was named ‘Marketing Manager of the Year’ at the 2008 Passenger Transport Management Awards. She is responsible for long list of innovative and creative marketing campaigns, including Jonathan Ross visiting Arriva Yorkshire for a radio show , David Jason sponsoring buses, the widely acknowledged Mr Men campaign, and the recent Arriva Yorkshire viral spoof of Virgin’s ‘Still Red Hot’ ad to promote one of its local bus routes. After le

Bagshaw joined Arriva Trains Wales in 2005, initially as performance and planning director. The key challenge at the time was to improve operational performance. With performance now significantly improved, his focus, as commercial director, is growing passenger numbers and working with the Welsh Assembly Government on their investment programme for rail in Wales. Bagshaw’s railway career started 20 years ago when he worked part time in the telephone enquiry bureaux at Reading station for

Hornby was appointed as commercial director of the award-winning, not to mention highly respected, bus operator Trent Barton earlier this year. His introduction to the industry came through periods of work experience whilst still at school in Liverpool. Filled with enthusiasm, this led to a degree in transport management at Aston University in Birmingham before joining Stagecoach’s graduate management training scheme. On completion of the scheme he spent a year as an assistant operations

Burles returned to the rail industry this spring after a spell in charge of Physio-Med Services, a supplier of physiotherapy equipment to the NHS. He was lured back to the railway by Northern Rail. Manchester-born Burles has a background in marketing. He began his career in 1993 as a marketing assistant with Air France before joining British Midland as a marketing executive. In 1997 he switched over to the rail industry as a product manager with intercity operator Midland Mainline, which was th

Goodwin has been with First TransPennine Express since its creation in February 2004. Joining as senior commercial manager, he was promoted to director level in 2006 where he has been instrumental in making the company one of the UK's fastest growing train operators. Under Goodwin’s leadership passenger numbers have grown faster than the national average from 13 million passengers in 2004 to 23 million today, and passenger revenue growth has increased by 150%. The graduate of Kingston Uni

Blair has a degree in industrial design from the University of Ulster, Belfast, and a masters degree in automotive design from Coventry University. He began his career as a conceptual model maker in Germany before joining Wrightbus, the Northern Ireland-based bus builder in 1997. Today he is a senior designer with the company. His achievements at Wrightbus include the design of the first Wrightbus double decker- The Eclipse Gemini - and the revolutionary StreetCar rapid transit vehicle, which

Liston’s career in the bus industry began when he joined Yorkshire Rider in 1987, as an apprentice PSV fitter at the Halifax depot. In 1993, through sponsorship by Yorkshire Rider, he undertook a four-year full-time degree in mechanical engineering and management at the University of Bradford. Yorkshire Rider subsequently became part of FirstGroup and Liston has held different roles within this larger business. In 2000, he was appointed to the position of vice president of maintenance for

Gilligan joined First’s Senior Management Training Scheme in 2002 after completing a history degree at the University of York. In 2006 Gilligan was promoted to the role of operations director in First Aberdeen. At the age of 25, he was the youngest director of a UK Bus subsidiary. He then spent 18 months as UK bus performance director with a remit that was specifically aimed at improving punctuality and reliability across First’s 9,000-vehicle UK bus operation. More recently, in Ju

Ratcliffe has thrived since joining Stagecoach’s graduate scheme in 2005. “I love the buzz and energy around the business, I couldn't begin to tell you what an average day is like, no day is “average” and you're never bored,” she says. Ratcliffe is now operations manager Stagecoach in Torbay, where she manages almost 300 drivers over two sites. At last year’s UK Bus Awards, Ratcliffe won the ‘Young Manager of the Year’ prize, sponsored by the Ch

Mhagrh is a great fit for Arriva, the most international of the UK’s passenger transport groups. He’s a people person and with a masters degree in business and IT from Aston Business School. But he’s also multilingual, having attained his first degree in French, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese from Liverpool University. Mhagrh started with Arriva in 2003 as a business support manager, working across the business on projects in UK bus, vehicle rental, and international

After studying transport management at Aston University, Mathieson joined Stagecoach as a management trainee. He rose through the ranks and was latterly manager of the group’s Oxford bus network. However, he left to join rival group National Express where he is area manager for Birmingham Central garage. He’s very happy that he chose a career in the public transport sector. “My own career path within two major groups has seen me go from graduate trainee to area manager in five

Hallgate has risen fast through the Network Rail ranks, beginning his railway career on the Railtrack graduate scheme in 1999. After several months of placements and training, his first job was as a performance manager on the Great Eastern route, followed shortly by promotion to acting route production manager (now known as an area operations manager). By 2002 Patrick became involved in the maintenance function and project managed the ‘New Maintenance Programme’ until summer 2003,

London-born Kaye read biology at Imperial College London and followed it up with an MSc in passenger transport management. She joined the Railtrack graduate training scheme in 1995 and has worked on the operational side of the business ever since. She was head of west coast in 2008, where she was the interface between the project team delivering the west coast upgrade and the train operating companies that use the line, ensuring Network Rail and customers were ready for the introduction of the

Loder is unusual in the post-privatisation railway in providing a classic case study of a rise from platform to senior management. He began his career with South West Trains as a part-time station assistant straight from school before becoming a guard and then guards' manager. He is now deputy operations director at Chiltern Railways. Jobs in between included performance manager at Arriva Trains, train services manager at Great Western and operations manager at c2c. In 2006, Loder, with backing

FirstGroup describes Stewart as one of its brightest prospects. Stewart has been with First since 1998, working in junior roles to start with whilst at university before gaining experience in a variety of positions through the group’s Senior Management Training Programme. On graduating, Stewart was appointed service delivery manager for the ftr in York where she flourished. Stewart joined First in Glasgow in 2008 as service quality manager, but was quickly seconded into the role of depot

Longair has moved up quickly through the ranks since joining Stagecoach in 2002. After completing the two-year graduate trainee programme, she was appointed operations manager of one of the group’s bus depots in Manchester and quickly made a big impression. She was then promoted to operations director of Stagecoach West Scotland. Longair has a BSc in maths and finance and she has put these skills to good use at Stagecoach. By analysing the paid/operating hours ratio, she has saved West Sc

Hebditch leads the CBT’s work on local transport and promotes links with parliamentarians and political parties while leading the campaign team. Previously he worked for Living Streets, which campaigns on behalf of pedestrians, where he was head of policy and communications. Before that he served as senior policy adviser in the Cabinet Office’s Office of the Third Sector. He has also worked for an MP at the House of Commons and has volunteered for a number of campaign groups. Commen

Before joining City Hall, Ranger spent 10 years in management consultancy with The Nichols Group. His clients included the Department for Transport, Network Rail and London Underground. During this period his focus was on delivering major transport projects in London, including Oystercard and the King’s Cross redevelopment. He is a former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party for cities and currently sits on the TfL board. Holding a degree in Architecture from UCL, Ranger has always bel

FirstGroup’s Devon & Cornwall bus business was a problem area for years. It still faces considerable challenges but Reddy has put the company on a much firmer footing since he was appointed managing director in 2006. He must be doing something right because in March he was also given responsibility for the group’s Hampshire & Dorset operation. Reddy has been involved in public transport since he was 16. He came up through the ranks, starting as a bus driver before becoming a

It’s been an eventful few months for Richard Robinson and his management team at Heathrow Express. Sub-zero temperatures, strikes by BA cabin crew, the Icelandic volcano and the threat of a national rail strike have all posed a challenge to the London Paddington-to-Heathrow rail link, which, like the airport, is owned and operated by BAA. A chemical engineer by training, Robinson only joined the company 12 months ago. His engineering education began at Nottingham University and continued

Dunn has buses in the blood. His first taste of the business was with his father’s Nottingham-based Dunn Line business. He helped to turn that business around and now he is managing director of West Midlands-based Diamond Bus, which is owned by AIM-listed Rotala (headed by his brother, Simon). Once again, Dunn has transformed the business. Last year Dunn was named Young Passenger Transport Professional of the Year at the 2009 Passenger Transport Management Awards. The judges were impresse

May has headed Arriva’s North East bus business since October 2007. He joined from FirstGroup, where he enjoyed rapid progression through the ranks over a period of nine years. May joined FirstGroup’s graduate management trainee scheme in 1998 after completing a degree in medicine at the University of Birmingham. After holding various roles, including a spell as operations manager at First Manchester’s Oldham depot, May got his big break in January 2003 when, at the tender ag

Shoveller received recognition for turning round punctuality at Midland Mainline as operations director in 2003 and 2004. With managing director, David Franks, he took MML from bottom of the table to best in class with headlines grabbed through his introduction of Acme Thunderer Whistles and Atomic Watches to focus staff's attention on the basics of running a railway. He went on to join Virgin West Coast as operations director and assisted in laying the foundations to improve performance there.

At just 32 years of age, Burchell became the country’s youngest train company managing director when he took charge at Go Ahead’s Southern franchise. His youth led one minister to ask him if his previous job had been as a school prefect! After four years in the job, however, he is recognised as one of the industry’s brightest young talents. Burchell wanted to be a diplomat but he failed to get into the Foreign Office after leaving university. Instead he joined Railtrack as a

There are few people in public transport with a CV as varied as Alex Warner. He has worked for London Underground, British Airways, the Strategic Rail Authority, four train operating companies and FirstGroup’s UK bus division. Adding to this modal mix, in 2009 he was appointed managing director of FirstGroup’s new Greyhound UK coach operation. After graduating from UCL with a degree in English, Warner tried to get on the graduate training schemes for British Rail and London Undergro

Chamberlain recently took charge of Stagecoach’s award-winning West Scotland bus business. She joined Stagecoach as a graduate trainee in 1996 after gaining a BSc in mathematics from Durham University. She rose quickly through the ranks and in 2005, aged 30, she became the group’s youngest managing director when she was put in charge of Stagecoach Warwickshire, with 180 buses and 400 staff. Her success in that role saw her then posted across the Atlantic as operations manager at St

Jones is currently joint chief executive officer at transport consultancy Steer Davies Gleave. Prior to joining the board, he led the company’s transaction support division and held senior management roles across the company’s UK and European operations. As a consultant Jones has directed a range of high profile commissions, typically leading teams to provide procurement and bid support advice to heavy rail franchise, rolling stock supply and metro operator competitions. He commen

Hopwood joined the railway aged 17 as a clerical officer, and his talent was immediately spotted. BR sponsored him through university and he joined their management trainee scheme. After privatisation he had commercial and operational management roles at Thames Trains before joining Railtrack as passenger negotiations manager. Hopwood returned to train operation in 2001 as operations director of First North Western and with David Franks transformed punctuality. He has pulled off similar tricks

Ellis has worked in the public transport industry all his life. Following graduation from the University of Leicester with a degree in business economics, he joined the FirstGroup senior management training scheme. During this time he worked with group companies in London and the South West, managing projects that increased revenue and improved punctuality. He then spent a year as operations manager for depots in North Essex, before leaving to spend a year travelling. On his return he joined con

Babes has an engineering background. After completing a Masters course at Durham University, he spent two years working for the Defence Procurement Agency, project managing the introduction of new equipment for UK’s Armed Forces. After a spell at London Underground he relocated to China in 2004, where he opened Colin Buchanan’s Shanghai office, rapidly and successfully growing the business. A key part of the work was input into station design for both new metro and high speed rail s

Hoggarth’s role at Metro, the West Yorkshire PTE, encompasses rail strategy and delivery, planning (including the Local Transport Plan, the Leeds City Region Transport Strategy and the proposed Leeds NGT Trolleybus scheme). Hoggarth has worked for Metro for nearly 12 years. His previous roles with the PTE include rail services manager and assistant director, development. Hoggarth has an MSc in transport planning from the University of Newcastle and worked for JMP Consultants and the City

Bangle first became interested in transport whilst studying geography at Durham University and she decided to study full time for a Masters in transport planning and engineering at Leeds University’s Institute for Transport Studies. She then joined consultants Halcrow, who seconded her to London Transport to work on a variety of projects, including the appraisal of the intermediate mode rapid transit schemes. Through contacts made at an international public transport conference held in Lon

Hughes joined Nexus, the Tyne & Wear PTE, two years ago as director of strategy. He had previously been employed by Leyland and then British Airways, where he was a pricing manager. Hughes is responsible for Nexus’s strategic and business planning process, setting high level objectives and aims for the organisation and overseeing their delivery through the Corporate Business Plan. He promotes large-scale funding bids to government, and sponsoring high impact projects to improve public

Jamie Ross impressed Stagecoach boss Brian Souter in 2005 when he gave a presentation to the CPT’s annual Scottish Conference. Ross, who was then head of strategy at the Scottish Executive’s transport division, urged bus operators to develop more ambitious growth plans. “I don’t know what somebody with so much energy and ideas is doing wasting their time at the Scottish Executive,” said Souter, who joked that Ross might consider the vacancy that existed at the time

Despite recent progress in developing the new generation of managers, barriers still remain to making public transport a career of choice for the most talented graduates. The industry’s image is one of the most significant. Adrian Thomas, Network Rail’s head of resourcing acknowledges that work needs to be done to change perceptions of the railway which he says is still perceived by many as “old fashioned, akin to the old steel and coal industries, when the reality is that it i

Yes. Driverless train systems are faster, safer and more efficient than the driver-operated alternative. In London, adopting a driverless Tube would have the added benefit of producing significant savings in wages. At present the RMT union is able to hold the travelling public to ransom, striking for the most trivial reason, causing misery for millions of commuters. Those who oppose a driverless Underground, point to the safety risks in introducing such an innovation. However, over the last year

There is simply is no equivalent event in the UK. A total of 10,000 people attended the Transports Publics 2010 show in Paris last month. French public transport professionals, suppliers and elected members were joined by visitors from around the world, including a familiar face to those in the UK - Brian Souter. The Stagecoach boss did not fly home empty handed. He was handed the Special Career Service Award at the inaugural ‘Talent in Mobility’ awards. The awards were judged by a

Network Rail has announced that Iain Coucher has informed the firm's board of his intention to step down following eight years with the company, including three years as chief executive. He will remain in his post over the coming months and will be involved in the search and recruitment of a successor to allow for a smooth and orderly transition. Network Rail chairman, Rick Haythornthwaite, said: "Iain has been an outstanding leader for Network Rail both as chief executive and deputy chi

Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter has received a major European award for a career of service to public transport. The co-founder of Stagecoach, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, was honoured in Paris for transforming the perception of public transport and attracting people from all social backgrounds to get on board buses and trains. Judges at the inaugural Talent in Mobility awards praised Brian Souter's commitment to innovation and his leading role in encouraging car us

FirstGroup has announced the appointment of former London Underground MD Tim O'Toole as chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of the group from next Monday (June 14). In a separate move the group has also announced the departure of UK Bus, Ireland and Germany director Nicola Shaw after five years with the group. O'Toole joined the First board as a non-exec director in May. Prior to this move he was managing director of London Underground until leaving last year, but has a backgrou

Transport for London has announced the appointment of Andie Harper as the new chief executive of infrastructure company Tube Lines. Although he will officially take up the post following TfL's acquisition of Tube Lines, Andie Harper - who led the smooth and efficient transfer of Metronet from administration to TfL - will be appointed CEO (designate) immediately and will begin working alongside current Tube Lines CEO Andrew Cleaves to ensure a smooth transition. Cleaves will leave Tube Lines fo

It has not taken long for National Express Group’s new chief executive to make his mark. In just three months since joining from Tube Lines in February, Dean Finch has completed his initial review of the company and has not pulled any punches. The review concluded that the West Midlands bus business, once a revered cash cow, has been undermined by a prolonged period of unfocused management which has contributed to costs rising well in excess of revenue. And it was also scathing about the

The coalition government today revealed the salaries of 172 civil servants whose salaries are higher than that of the prime minister (£150,000). The list reveals that a number of civil servant high earners in the transport sector. Topping the list is Dr Mike Mitchell, the former FirstGroup executive who is the Department for Transport's head of national networks. The government's document, which was revealed by the Cabinet Office this morning, discloses that Mitchell earns between £

Stagecoach has announced a management reshuffle at its Scottish bus businesses following the appointment of former Stagecoach West Scotland managing director Sam Greer as regional director - Scotland of the group’s UK bus division. Bryony Chamberlain, previously managing director of Stagecoach Bluebird and Highland, has succeeded Greer as managing director of Stagecoach West Scotland. Chamberlain has worked for Stagecoach for 14 years, and returned to the UK Bus Division in January 2009 f

Municipal bus operator Reading Transport has announced the appointment of Greg Chambers as finance director. He took up his post in early April, although he has been working with the company on an interim basis over the past six months. Chambers, who qualified as an accountant in 1993, was previously a consultant to Reading Borough Council on a number of projects, including heading the finance teams for both the Social Services and the Education & Children’s Services Directorates. Pr

Go Ahead has announced the appointment of John Shield as its new director of corporate affairs. He succeeds Jim Boyd who stepped down from his role at the London-based group earlier this year. Shield (pictured) joins Go Ahead from the BBC where he is currently head of communications for BBC Journalism. Prior to this move he held a range of positions in the communications field in the civil service including director of communications for the Department of Communities and Local Government and h

The Competition Commission has a mountain of reading to get through over the summer. They have demanded vast quantities of information from the bus industry as part of their investigation into the supply of local bus services outside of London. But if they really want to enhance their understanding of the business, they would do well to also read a new book by Roger French, the managing director of Brighton & Hove - Pride & Joy. My amazing 25 year journey with Brighton & Hove. Frenc

It’s going to be fascinating to see what the chemistry is between Philip Hammond, the former Tory shadow chief secretary to the Treasury who has been appointed as secretary of state for transport, and Norman Baker, his Liberal Democrat junior minister. The Sunday Times quickly identified the pair as one of the “ministerial odd couples” of the new coalition government. Baker, 52, is regarded as a leading member of the Commons “awkward squad” and has no qualms about

Prime minister David Cameron has announced the appointment of the Philip Hammond, the MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, as secretary of state for transport. Prior to his election to the parliament in 1997, Hammond followed a business career in small and medium-sized companies in manufacturing, consultancy, property and construction and oil and gas, both in the UK and abroad. In recent years, Mr Hammond has held a number of shadow portfolios, most recently as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury

The era of easy public money is over, Philip Hammond, the newly-appointed secretary of state for transport, warned today (Thursday). Hammond held a press briefing at Great Minster House this afternoon after attending the first cabinet meeting of the new Liberal Democrat-Conservative government. Hammond was handed the transport brief after Lib Dem MP David Laws was named as chief secretary to the Treasury, the role which he used to shadow before the election. This role required Hammond to scru

Prime minister David Cameron has named Philip Hammond as the new secretary of state for transport. The Conservative MP was previously shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, a post that has been filled in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition by Lib Dem MP David Laws. A philosophy, politics and economics graduate of Oxford, Hammond first stood for Parliament in Newham North East in 1994. Having been defeated in that by-election, he was elected in 1997 for the Surrey constituency of Runny

Stagecoach has announced a management reshuffle at its Scottish bus businesses following the appointment of Sam Greer as regional director of the businesses. Green, whose appointment was announced in February, began his new role on May 1 and now has overall responsibility for all of Stagecoach's Scottish bus operations including Stagecoach Highland, Bluebird, Strathtay, Fife, and West Scotland. As a result of this change, several other management appointments have also been made. Bryony Chamb

As we speak David Cameron and Nick Clegg are trying to work out whether they can form a coalition government. Transport is not the key to this agreement, but transport policy will be influenced by its outcome. So what would a Tory-Lib Dem "coalition for change" mean for transport? A glance at the manifestos of the two parties reveals plenty of common ground. Both are committed to high speed rail. Both want longer rail franchises with less micro-management from government. Both want Ne

Incoming National Express Group chief executive Dean Finch would appear to be making his mark on the business with the news that two senior managers are to step down from their positions. Chief operating officer Ray O'Toole stepped down at this week's Annual General Meeting of the group, but will remain with NEG assisting Finch on "a number of projects" over the next 12 months. Paying tribute to him, group chairman John Devaney said: "Ray has been a member of our board since join

Bluestar operations manager  Alex Hornby has been named as the new commercial director of award-winning Derbyshire-based bus operator TrentBarton. Hornby joined Go South Coast subsidiary Bluestar in the summer of 2006 from Stagecoach after spending a year as an assistant operations manager at the Perth-based group’s Manchester bus operations. This position followed his successful completion of Stagecoach’s graduate management training scheme. “I am very excited at the p

GoSkills has announced two new key appointments at the sector skills council. Neil Stokell, the former chief executive of Teesdale District Council joins as chief executive, while National Express East Anglia managing director Andrew Chivers has been named at the organisation’s new chairman. The changes represent a new era for the SSC following its relicensing by business secretary Lord Mandelson last month and the recent adoption of a new business strategy. Stokell succeeds Peter Hunting

A change of career at 66 years of age is not something everyone pursues, but for John Culshaw, a new bus driver straight out of First Glasgow’s training school, finding a new challenge was an appealing way of spending his retirement. After retiring from a career in academia spanning 38 years at Glasgow Caledonian University, Culshaw decided that he’d enjoy the challenge of driving large vehicles. From a background that began in the lecturing of electrical engineering and then pro

Four directors at First’s Devon &?Cornwall bus operations went ‘back to the floor’ for a day last month in a move that aimed to refresh their understanding and appreciation of the tasks done by the company’s 1,000-strong workforce. Managing director Marc Reddy, commercial director Simon Newport, operations director Steve Grigg and Simon Marsh, the recently appointed engineering director, all swapped their normal daily routines for ones that saw them driving buses, wo

Ian Morgan stepped back from the day-to-day running of TrentBarton last year, but his “semi-retirement” as non-executive deputy chairman of Wellglade, TrentBarton’s parent group, does not appear to allow him much time in the garden. He remains a key figure in both the UK bus industry and the East Midlands business community. Last year he represented bus operators as president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport. Having completed his term he is now set to fulfill the sam

It has been a good year for the fortunes of transport’s millionaires according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List, with Stagecoach founders Brian Souter and Ann Gloag increasing their total wealth by an impressive £137m. The fortune of the siblings has improved immensely over the last year thanks in part to the resurgence of the London Stock Exchange which has seen the value of their combined shareholding in Perth-based Stagecoach increase significantly. Despite a fall in profit

He said he’d be back, and now he is. “It’s thank you from me, but it’s not goodbye,” Phil White told friends and colleagues in 2006 at a party to mark the end of his nine-year reign as chief executive of bus and train operator National Express Group. Since then White, 60, has kept busy by chairing Kier, the construction group, Lookers, the car dealership business, and UNITE, which develops student accommodation. Now, almost four years later, White has fulfilled his

Former National Express Group chief executive Phil White is to join Stagecoach's board as a non-executive director. The move is likely to heighten industry speculation of the Perth-based group's interest in NEG. Last year Stagecoach partnered with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and the Spanish Cosmen family, who own a substantial stake in NEG since the group acquired the family's bus and coach interests five years ago, in a move that could have seen Stagecoach walk away with a num

GoSkills, the transport sector skills council, has announced Neil Stokell, former chief executive of Teesdale District Council, as its new chief executive, with immediate effect. The employer-led sector skills council, which is responsible for ensuring that the skills system in the UK is meeting the needs of the passenger transport sector, is moving into a new period of operation, having been relicensed by the business secretary Lord Mandelson and having recently developed a new strategy for

First has announced a management reshuffle at its UK bus business. The changes will see First Manchester managing director  Andy Scholey seconded to assist with the group’s response to the current Competition Commission inquiry. He will also be tasked with helping to plan the group’s bus provision for spectators at the 2012 London Olympics. Replacing Scholey in Manchester will be Richard Soper, the current managing director of First’s bus operations in Hampshire and Dors

Jonathan Findlay has been elected as the new chairman of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. Findlay, who is a councillor for Drumchapel/Anniesland ward in Glasgow, was nominated and voted in by a majority vote of 14 for and six against at a meeting of SPT’s partnership in early March. At the same meeting Denis McKenna was elected as vice chair. Their appointments follow the resignations of Alistair Watson and David McLachland, who stood down recently in the wake of the expenses scand

The recent British Airways strikes saw the much anticipated chaos become a whimper after a sizeable number of cabin crew reported for duty backed up by a flotilla of aircraft sourced from third party airlines. Surprisingly, three of those chartered planes belonged to Irish low cost airline Ryanair, which suspended its usual hostility against the British flag carrier to operate domestic UK routes from London’s Gatwick Airport. For those booked on those flights they experienced a curious hy

The former wife of Chorley bus driver Kevin Halstead must be more than a little ticked off after it was revealed he had won £2.3m on the National Lottery just hours after his divorce was finalised. It of course means she can’t claim a penny and Halstead, who works, or worked rather as the case may be, for Stagecoach North West is now looking forward to planning his future with his new partner. We wonder if a prenuptial agreement could be part of it that bright future?  

So many transport secretaries have achieved very little during their time in office, so why single out Alistair Darling? One reason it that he made so much time to make a difference, but he failed to make use of it. Darling served for almost four years as secretary of state for transport. Over the last half century only two people have had more time in charge of the nation’s transport provision - Ernest Marples (1959-1964) and John Prescott (1997-2001). Barbara Castle, one of his predec

As the general election approaches it’s a good time to consider the impact that individual politicians with vision and sheer force of will can have on a sector like transport. And few, if any, have had a greater and more positive impact than Barbara Castle. The fiery left winger was at first disappointed to be offered the role of minister of transport in December 1965, but later said that she had enjoyed it more than any of her ministerial posts. Prime minister Harold Wilson told her that

Norman Baker Party: Liberal Democrat Occupation: Transport spokesman for the Liberal Democrats since December 2007 Experience: Was leader of Lewes Council before being elected as MP for Lewes in 1997 - the constituency’s first non-Conservative MP since 1874. Age: 52 The longstanding Liberal Democrat transport spokesman is admired for his knowledge of his brief and well informed arguments. Often likes to light heartedly portray the Liberal Democrats as a visionary party whose policies

Theresa Villiers Party: Conservative Occupation: Shadow Secretary of State for Transport since July 2007. Experience: Before being elected MP for Chipping Barnet in 2003 Villiers served as an MEP. She has also worked as a barrister and as a lecturer at King’s College London. Age: 42 Regarded as having done a decent, though not spectacular, job in opposition. Not seen by many as likely to last long as secretary of state should the Conservatives win the election, if she gets the job a

Lord Andrew Adonis Party: Labour Occupation: Secretary of State for Transport since June 2009 Experience: First appointed to the government following the 2005 general election. He was previously an academic at the University of Oxford, then a journalist. Age: 47 A class political act. Recognised as one of the cleverest people in politics, and one of the few politicians with a genuinely impressive legacy having founded City Academies. Also likely to take much of the credit for putting moment

Chris Bolt, the Arbiter for the London Underground PPP agreements, has published his final directions and guidance on Tube Lines’ costs for seven and a half years from July 1, 2010. He has allowed £4.46bn, an increase of £65m on his draft directions published in December. The final assessment of costs is £1.29bn less than Tube maintenance company Tube Lines originally said it needed. However, it exceeds the amounts that LU has said that it is able to afford by around &po

First has announced a number of changes to subsidiary managing directors at its UK bus division. It says the move will help to group deal with the current Competition Commission inquiry into the UK bus industry outside London and Northern Ireland and assist with the organisation of First's recently awarded Olympic Games transport contract. First Manchester managing director Andy Scholey is being seconded to the central First UK bus team to help with these two projects. He will return to his

ScotRail says that it expects to operate nine out of 10 trains today (Monday), despite strike action by RMT members. The special timetable aims to provide 100% of services on many routes - including Edinburgh-Glasgow Queen Street and all services in Strathclyde, except Motherwell-Cumbernauld. It also aims to run Glasgow and Edinburgh services to Aberdeen and Inverness as normal. Steve Montgomery, managing director of ScotRail, said: "It is business as usual for Scotland’s railway

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has announced two new appointments made in the wake of the Regional Transport Partnership's expenses scandal. Jonathan Findlay has been elected as the new chairman, with Denis McKenna elected as vice chair. Findlay, who is a councillor for Drumchapel/Anniesland ward in Glasgow, was nominated and voted in by a majority vote of 14 for and 6 against at a meeting of SPT on Friday. He said he welcomed the role and said he would take the challenge of running SPT

London transport commissioner Peter Hendy is often portrayed as a humble bus conductor who rose to the top of his profession after years of toil. However, the reality is a little different. Hendy, in actual fact, was born at Wynford Manor in Dorset, home to successive Barons Wynford since 1829 and his grandfather was the seventh baron. It was only after attending the fee-paying Latymer Upper School and Leeds University that he joined London Transport as a graduate management trainee. Now the

Stagecoach has announced the appointment of Sam Greer as regional director for Scotland. He succeeds Tom Wileman who will retire in May. In his new role, Greer  will have overall responsibility for all of Stagecoach’s Scottish bus operations including Stagecoach Highland, Bluebird, Strathtay, Fife, West Scotland and the Scottish Citylink joint venture. Greer began his career in 1984 as an apprentice mechanic with the Scottish Bus Group. He later worked for Metroline and Strathclyde

Irish airline Aer Lingus has announced the appointment of Nicola Shaw to its board as a non-executive director. Shaw is currently FirstGroup’s director, bus - UK, Ireland and Germany. She previously worked in senior positions in both the UK Strategic Rail Authority and the Office of the Rail Regulator. Shaw was also a consultant with Bechtel and Halcrow Fox and holds a BA in Modern History and Economics from Oxford University and an MSc in Transport from MIT.

Sexist and outdated public perceptions about job opportunities for women in the rail industry are a damaging barrier to building a bigger and better railway Britain, according to Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher. The infrastructure controller last month launched a new campaign to attract more talented women to the company, further improving the overall skills of the workforce and addressing the poor male:female balance. It will begin by aiming to attract more women to its award winnin

A First Capital Connect manager was named as IRO Young Professional of the Year at the recent Eversholt Rail Awards. Daniel Williams (pictured) has already had a 17 year career in the industry after starting as a cleaner as an eager 17-year old. Today he is head of customer service delivery and responsible for a team of over 800 staff. Judges branded him “the ultimate young manager” and commended him on his “inspirational leadership”. Williams beat-off stiff competition

1980 Coach Driver Epsom Coaches After a decade as a carpenter and joiner, Whiteway fulfills an ambition to become a coach driver. 1986 Supervisor Epsom Coaches Health issues see Whiteway step away from the wheel and start work in the operations office. 1995 Director Epsom Coaches 10 years later and Whiteway becomes a director of Epsom Coaches, the first outsider to join the board of the family-owned business. 2010 President Confederation of Passenger Transport In January Whitew

It’s a busy time at Surrey bus and coach operator Epsom Coaches, with work on a £2m project to rebuild its head office and depot facilities now almost reaching its conclusion. Commercial director Steve Whiteway admits to taking a hands-on approach to the work. While other senior managers would be happy to let architects and builders get on with such a major project, Whiteway has a more unique approach. “I’ve been planning this work in my mind for years and so I did all t

While the French urban transport market has been gradually opening to competition, the French regional rail market is entirely closed. Under French law SNCF is guaranteed a monopoly in the regional market and the French Regions are only allowed to let contracts to SNCF. This has caused considerable consternation among other European operators whose governments have decided to open their markets to competition, particularly Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway company. They have suggested tha

It has emerged that Ron Culley has resigned as chief executive of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport with effect from today (Thursday). It follows the resignation of SPT chairman Alistair Watson on Monday following the disclosure of the expenses claims of senior members and executives at the organisation. Audit Scotland has been called in to investigate after it was revealed that members and senior managers claimed over £100,000 on foreign trips and taxi fares. Culley announced

It has been confirmed that the chairman of Scotland's largest transport partnership has resigned citing health problems. Alistair Watson will formally step down from his role at Strathclyde Partnership for Transport amid reports raising questions about the expenses claims of senior members and executives at the organisation. It is understood that Glasgow City Council, who appoint the chair of the RTP, believed Watson's position was untenable amid the news that senior officials claimed a tota

More than 550 RMT members at First's ScotRail franchise are set to stage strike action on February 20, March 1 and March 13 after voting overwhelmingly for action against plans to introduce driver-only operation on a new rail route. The dispute centres on plans to introduce driver door operated trains with ticket examiners on the new Glasgow to Edinburgh via Airdrie and Bathgate route which is due to open in December. In the ballot that closed today, members of the union voted for action by

Serco and Abellio, the joint owners of train operator Northern Rail, today (Monday) announced the appointment of Ian Bevan as interim managing director and Steve Butcher as interim deputy managing director. Bevan, currently finance director and deputy managing director, will step up to replace Heidi Mottram, managing director, when she leaves to join Northumbrian Water Group next month. Butcher, currently area director - east, is promoted to interim deputy managing director with specific respo

Members of the RMT rail union working for Eurostar have passed a vote of no confidence in the company’s senior management and have demanded assurances on the safe running of the service following the breakdowns before Christmas. In a letter to the company, RMT general secretary Bob Crow has demanded disclosure of the full facts on the following range of staff concerns: That it took up to 8 hours to get stranded trains out of the Channel Tunnel. That once out of the tunnel it t

Network Rail has today announced additional non-executive board appointments and the departure of Stations Champion Chris Green from its board. David Higgins and Graham Eccles will joard the rail infrastructure firm's board. Higgins is a successful chief executive, civil engineer and project manager with over 20 years of experience in leading roles. He is currently the chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, but was latterly the chief executive of English Partnerships between 2003

A number of figures within the transport industry have received gongs in the New Year’s Honours List. Stuart Baker, deputy director, national projects, rail and national networks at the Department for Transport has been awarded an OBE, as has Heidi Mottram, the outgoing managing director of Northern Rail, who is to leave the TOC in the coming months to join Northumbrian Water as chief executive. MBEs have been bestowed on Peter Roberts, the chairman of the Association of Community Rail P

Sir David Rowlands, the former permanent secretary at the Department for Transport and chair of the DfT’s High Speed 2 company, has been appointed as non-executive chairman of rolling stock leasing company Angel Trains. Rowland’s, who was also recently appointed as chairman of Gatwick Airport by Global Infrastructure Partners following its acquisition of the airport from BAA, becomes the first non-executive chairman of the ROSCO. The move follows the acquisition of Angel Trains by a

Neal Lawson has been appointed as the managing director of First Capital Connect. He succeeds First rail division head Mary Grant, who has been covering the role since the departure of interim managing director Jim Morgan in November. Lawson joined First Capital Connect last May and has been working as engineering and new trains director, responsible for the delivery of the next generation of rolling stock for the £5.5bn Thameslink scheme. Commenting on the appointment, Grant said: "

April will see Passenger Focus finally take up its role as the champion for England’s bus users. It’s a move that David Sidebottom, the watchdog’s recently appointed bus passenger director, says he relishes. “I can’t wait to get started!” he says with genuine enthusiasm. “There’s a lot more for Passenger Focus to do as we build upon the great start we’ve had developing our knowledge and experience of how we can make a real difference for bus

The recent cold weather has caught much of the country, like the MetOffice it would seem, by surprise. However, it also showed how managers, and even more junior employees, in the bus industry are dedicated to customer service and are ready to work hard to keep the wheels turning in very difficult circumstances. Social networking has helped a lot in opening up new channels of communication. Many operators, including Go Ahead subsidiaries Bluestar and Metrobus who have had a significant presence

1985-1998 - Sales roles British Airways 1999-2000 - Sales Manager First Great Western 2000-2001 - Managing Director FirstInfo and Total Journey 2003-2004 - Regional Director First UK Bus - South West and Wales 2004-2006 - Rail Bid Director FirstGroup 2006-2009 - Managing Director First Capital Connect 2009-present - Chief Executive Directly Operated Railways  

britain’s passenger transport sector has been given the opportunity to put its most talented managers forward for a prestigious Europe-wide awards scheme - the Talent in Mobility Awards. The five awards will be presented at the Transports Publics 2010, the European sustainable transport exhibition, which will take place in Paris on June 8-10. “By creating the Talent in Mobility awards, we are seeking to focus on women and men who have contributed to the growth of public transport t

London Underground has called on the RMT leadership to put a stop to the continued threat of strike action, after the union's leadership threatened action from 750 members of maintenance staff over alterations to the rosters of just 30 staff. The union's leadership, which believes LU should use tax and farepayers money to cover maintenance shifts by increasing overtime payments, has also tried to claim that their members' jobs are at risk from external contractors even though this arrangement t

Passengers on the West Coast Main Line are braced for disruption after ticket office staff at Virgin Trains announced industrial action over planned closures. Over 200 Virgin booking office staff at more than a dozen stations on the West Coast line will walk out for three hours between 4.00pm and 7.00pm on Friday evening at the height of the rush hour. They will also walkout between 5.00am and 8.30am during the morning rush on Monday January 25 and again between 4.00pm and 7.00pm on Friday

Candidates were judged on two key criteria - the clout that they wield in their current position, and the cultural influence that they exert over their peers. Our ambition was to take a snapshot of the individuals who run or influence the UK passenger transport sector in 2009. The New Transit Power 50 2010 Sir Moir Lockhead Brian Souter Lord Adonis

He has yet to turn 40 years of age but Alex Warner has already experienced life in all corners of the public transport sector There are few people in public transport with a CV as varied as Alex Warner. The 38-year old has worked for London Underground, British Airways, the erstwhile Strategic Rail Authority, four train operating companies and FirstGroup’s UK bus division. To add to this modal mix, in 2009 he was appointed managing director of FirstGroup’s new Greyhound UK coach o

The New Transit ‘Power 50’ list shows the most powerful and influential people in public transport. As with any assessment of the most powerful people, companies and institutions, it will inevitably provoke an array of questions. Do the ‘Big Five’ transport groups wield more power than the government? Do ministers or civil servants hold the whip hand in the Department for Transport? Do local government’s representatives or the negotiators from the transport indust

National Express Group has announced the appointment of Dean Finch as chief executive. He will join the troubled group in early Spring 2010. Finch is currently chief executive of Tube Lines, which is responsible for maintaining and upgrading half of the London Underground system. Before joining Tube Lines earlier this year, Finch worked for over 10 years in senior roles within FirstGroup plc. He was managing director of the rail division from 2000 - 2004 and then was appointed to the FirstGro

The founder of Ballymena-based bus manufacturer Wright Group has been recognised for his “major and distinguished” contribution to the transport sector by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology. Dr William Wright OBE, who built up what was originally a small family business into a leading innovative brand that produces thousands of buses sold around the world, was in London this week to take receipt of the Coales Medal for Achievement in Transport. The IET is one of the w

Go Ahead yesterday (Tuesday) confirmed that it had completed the purchase of Plymouth Citybus from Plymouth City Council. The group completed its purchase following a full meeting of Plymouth City Council where the decision was made to sell the business to the London-based group. In late November Go Ahead confirmed that it had offered to acquire for cash 100% of the share capital of Plymouth City Bus from Plymouth City Council for an enterprise value of £20m. This followed the council's d

WINNER Ted Ingle, East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains employee Ted Ingle was named as the Stagecoach Group Green Champion in May 2009, after being selected as the staff member who has contributed the most to reducing the company’s carbon footprint. He has now been named as green champion for the whole of Britain’s transport sector. His most recent achievement was the introduction of a new disposal system for the waste that is removed when trains are cleaned. Waste gathered f

Following a structural review, the Confederation of Passenger Transport has announced that Stephen Smith has been appointed to the newly created role of operations director. Smith has 37 years’ experience of the passenger transport industry and has already led on a number of key issues for CPT. Meanwhile, John Burch will remain as deputy director - operations. He will now also be free to undertake a number of special projects on behalf of CPT throughout the coming year.

Open access train operator Grand Central has appointed Charles Belcher to the company board. Latterly managing director of Virgin West Coast, where he introduced the new Pendolino timetable before leaving last year, Belcher has a 38-year career within the rail industry and has been a senior manager at a number of train operators. Grand Central chairman Giles Fearnley said Belcher would help the operator scout out potential new business.  

Virgin Trains has appointed Paul Furze-Waddock as its new business development director. Furze-Waddock takes up his new job in the new year and his main focus will be future franchise bidding. He will report directly to Virgin Trains’ chief executive officer Tony Collins. Furze-Waddock was previously commercial director - rail at FirstGroup and has also previously worked for train leasing company Angel Trains. “I have enjoyed eight highly successful years helping First Group to ach

While transport secretary Lord Adonis conducted his own tour of Britain’s rail network from the comfort of the train, the noble Lord has now despatched underling, sorry, transport minister Sadiq Khan to conduct his own national tour. By bus (shock! horror!). Fresh from his non-appearance at this year’s UK?Bus Awards, Khan announced last month on social networking site Twitter, of which it would seem he is a fan, that he was “at Kings Cross about to catch train to Darlington as

Bus drivers at Hackney-based bus and community transport operator will stage strike action tomorrow in a dispute centring around pay and conditions. The 24-hour strike by drivers, engineers and administration staff at CT Plus will begin at 4am and will hit public transport and public services, including school buses and community transport services in Hackney and Islington. CT Plus, part of the HCT Group, is a growing social enterprise, but trade union Unite says it is using low wages for wo

Trade union Unite has warned that London is facing a significant wave of strikes that threatens the capital’s public transport system. The union, which is London’s biggest transport union, has confirmed that 2,500 East London bus workers will take two days of strike action starting at 3am tomorrow. Earlier in the week Unite members employed by EDF, working for London Underground, voted overwhelmingly for strike action and later today Unite will announce the result of an industrial

Media reports this morning suggest that Dean Finch, the former FirstGroup chief operating officer and current head of London Underground infrastructure firm Tube Lines, is a front runner to take on the role of chief executive at National Express Group. It is understood that Finch is on the shortlist of NEG chairman John Devaney to fill the position which has been vacant since Richard Bowker stepped down in June. Commenting on the speculation, Finch said: "I can confirm they have spoken to

Transport secretary Lord Adonis has found train operator London Midland to be in breach of its franchise agreement after it was forced to make cuts to weekend services following a shortage of drivers. The TOC was forced to cancel around 1,000 services in September after drivers refused to volunteer for work on Sundays, for which they are not obliged, en-masse. Similar circumstances led to significant cancellations at First Capital Connect last weekend. In a written statement to parliament, Ado

The London Underground worker at the centre of a viral YouTube video has resigned it has been announced. Ian Morbin was filmed earlier this month by businessman Jonathan McDonald at Holborn Station shouting at an elderly man who was boarding a Central Line train. McDonald claimed that the passenger had got his arm stuck in the door of the train. When the victim told Morbin he was sworn at and told to stand behind the platform's yellow line. The video shows him calling the man "a jumped up

For many working in the transport industry it is the culmination of a life’s ambition. However, for Stagecoach South Wales manager Carole Morgan, it would seem to have been destined. Morgan’s introduction to the industry came at just three days old when she was shown her first bus, however, her career in the industry almost didn’t happen. “I have a BA (Hons) degree in Criminology and Psychology, from Coventry University. For years I had dreams of joining the police force

Trade union Unite, which represents engineering, electrical, administrative and management workers employed at London Underground, has announced that it will  give LU notice of an industrial action ballot tomorrow. The action arises from LU’s refusal to move on their pay offer for 2009 and follows Unite’s LUL members’ recent 2 to 1 decision for an industrial action ballot. Unite says that LU's ‘final’ two year offer of 1.5% in the first year and RPI plus 0.5%

The world of fashion and celebrity has recently been agog at footballer David Beckham’s decision to grow a beard. But what’s this? At September’s launch of the Greener Journey’s campaign, Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter debuted his own newly grown beard. Indeed, it would seem he beat Beckham to this devastating new look by some weeks. So what next? Will ‘Posh’ be seen sporting a Tesco carrier rather than Gucci hand bag? Will ‘Becks’ opt to

To a large extent, the performance of major companies reflects the character of their chief executives. This is particularly true in public transport where the men at the top have been instrumental in building their businesses virtually from scratch, and have been part of the leadership team, in some cases chief executive, for decades. Stagecoach, under Brian Souter, has consistently led the industry into new markets and pioneered innovation, sometimes impetuously, sometimes brilliantly. First

Yet again London is facing a  strike on the Underground, with the RMT balloting for industrial action. The union has made a speciality of flying in the face of reality and change. At a time when redundancies and pay freezes are rife, the RMT leadership believes a 1.5% pay rise this year followed by an above inflation rise next year is not good enough for its £40,000 a year drivers. It's hard to fathom why anyone would reject it given the current economic situation. The time has surel

London Underground has condemned the RMT leadership's threat of strike action and, once again, urged them to put a two-year, above inflation pay offer to their members, recommending that Tube staff accept a very fair and final offer. LU has tabled a two-year offer to all unions which would see staff's pay increase by 1.5% this year, and RPI+ 0.5% - or 0.5%, whichever is the greater - next year. Two unions have now put the offer to their members, with TSSA recommending the offer be accepted, a

Members of the Unite trade union at bus operator First Essex are to stage a 24 hour strike in a row over pay next Monday. The union says that members have made the decision following the imposition of a 0% pay deal by First Group. The union adds that the group is "using the recession as ‘an excuse to freeze pay’ on the back of the company posting an annual profit of £134m". First Essex's two groups of drivers voted by 84.6% and 95.2% to stage the action. Staff i

Trade union Unite says that 2,500 members at FirstGroup are set to strike in a dispute over an imposed 0% pay deal. Unite leaders say the strikes are set to go ahead as FirstGroup's national management refuses to allow local management at its 19 subsidiaries to fund a pay rise for its employees.  The union is warning that unless the company alters its aggressive negotiating position, these strikes could soon be followed by others across the company's largest regions, meaning that thousand

The RMT union has this week launched a confidential email hotline for members amid growing concerns over planned maintenance cuts by Network Rail. Network Rail announced last month that it was investigating cuts to its maintenance workforce that could see around 2,000 employees loose their job. Briefings for RMT safety reps have confirmed that the cuts will be spread across the whole Network Rail maintenance operation including track, signalling and overhead lines. As part of a campaign strat

London Underground today welcomed the RMT leadership's decision to abandon the completely unnecessary threat of a one-day strike on the Victoria line over changed working patterns for drivers. LU met with the union on Monday to clarify the working arrangements, which the RMT had claimed would lead to an increase in workload. Following that meeting, the union has accepted that no drivers will work longer hours and has signed up to the same working patterns accepted with ASLEF last week. Under

Britain's top six bus drivers have been named in a new competition involving passengers, employers and professionals. The UK Bus Awards has teamed up with passenger bodies Bus Users UK and Passenger Focus to identify Britain's best bus driver, and the winner will be named at a glittering ceremony to present all this year's prizes at the London Hilton Hotel on 12th November. The six people who have entered the finals are: Barry Allitt, who works for the East Midlands bus operator

There is much to admire about Michael O’Leary, the infamous chief executive of budget airline Ryanair. Many of those involved in surface passenger transport will commend his achievements in building Europe’s largest short-haul airline from nothing, challenging the status quo of complacent state-owned or former state-owned airlines and airport operators along the way. You can’t deny his influence. Public transport operators have certainly drawn inspiration from Ryanair’s

Transport is a brief that fails to whet the appetite of many politicians. In cabinet reshuffles, it’s a spare post that is given to test someone on the way up or appease someone on the down. That wasn’t the case when Labour came to power in 1997. Deputy prime minister John Prescott was handed the transport brief and he brought a new momentum. He championed public transport and he set out a vision for an integrated and sustainable transport network, but the momentum was lost. Prescot

In his office at Inverness Airport, Inglis Lyon, the managing director of Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is juggling multiple operational issues at the group’s various facilities. The Highlands and Islands make up the UK’s most peripheral region and its topography, low population density and climate makes it particularly dependent on air travel. The varied nature of this part of Scotland means that HIAL must support the needs of one of the fastest growing European cit

The big problem with airports is that we tend to go there when we have a plane to catch. As a result, we are panicked, argumentative, stressed and entirely unable to notice that we’re passing through some of the most fascinating spaces of the modern world. All of life is at the airport, in its highs and lows. This is the place to come in order to see high technology, mass consumption, passion and fear: it deserves to be recognised as a mini-holiday destination in its own right. That&rsquo

1985 - 1994 British Rail Starting his career as a BR graduate trainee Haines gained wide ranging operational experience. 1994 - 1997 Railtrack Haines gained rapid promotions and was regarded by TOCs as one of the few Railtrack managers to have a genuine commitment to customer service. 1997 - 2005 South West Trains After joining SWT Haines held various roles prior to his promotion to Managing Director in 2000. 2005 - 2008 Firstgroup Managing Director - UK Rail At FirstGroup

When FirstGroup announced that Andrew Haines had left his job as head of its rail division last December it was a genuine shock. But the sense of surprise in the industry was, if anything, exceeded by Haines’s re-emergence as the Civil Aviation Authority’s first chief executive in August. It was not as if Haines was short of options to continue his career on the railway, where he was regarded as among the next generation of industry leaders. During the six months gardening leave he

It’s not often that you see Sir Moir Lockhead and Brian Souter on the same platform. The respective chief executives of FirstGroup and Stagecoach have been bitter rivals for well over a decade. Their companies compete in arenas as diverse as the streets of Sheffield and inter-city coach routes in the USA’s Mid-West. One thing that they agree on, however, is that the UK government risks missing key carbon reduction targets by failing to maximise the potential of buses and coaches.

IT was 12 months ago that Theresa Villiers addressed the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham and pledged support for a new high speed rail line in place of a third runway at Heathrow. Since that announcement, the momentum for high speed rail in the UK has gathered pace in this country, with support from politicians across the spectrum. “We have long had the technology and it now looks as if we finally have the political commitment,” Villiers told last month’s High Sp

Stagecoach Yorkshire have introduced a new travel scheme which aims to cut the amount of tax employees pay on their earnings.   The new Corporate Travel Plan enables staff to agree to a reduction in pay, equal to the cost of an annual season ticket for bus travel. The employer then provides the ticket, with Stagecoach responsible for the administration. a new travel scheme and cut the amount of tax employees pay on their earnings.   It means employees do not pay income tax or Natio

FirstGroup is to incentives drivers at its UK bus division with a £2m reward pot for improved driving standards. The scheme is linked to the group’s announcement that it is to install a driver monitoring system across its 9,000-strong UK bus fleet, which aims to improve driving standards whilst cutting CO2 emissions and fuel use. The move follows a successful trial of the ‘DriveGreen’ system, produced by US-based Green Road, on 1,000 buses in London, Bradford and Glasg

Rick Haythornthwaite has taken over as chairman of Network Rail following the departure of Sir Ian McAllister. Commenting on his appointment, Haythornthwaite said: “It will be a privilege to lead this large, complex and important company as it delivers some big challenges in the years ahead. Success is vital for the three million people who use our railways every day as well as to the economy of the UK.” Haythornthwaite, 52, was CEO of Invensys plc, from 2001 to 2005, leading the r

Richard Brown (pictured), chief executive of cross-Channel train operator Eurostar since 2002, is to become non-executive chairman of Eurostar, replacing SNCF boss Guillaume Pepy who has been non-executive chairman of Eurostar since 1998.  Nicolas Petrovic, who joined Eurostar in 2003 and is currently chief operating officer, will take over as chief executive. The changes are expected to coincide with the ‘go-live’ date for the single Eurostar company at the beginning of next

A number of readers chose to send us anonymous captions for the cover of the last issue of New Transit. No prizes are on offer but we thought them witty enough to print anyway. Meanwhile, here’s last word on the Richard Bowker saga. A close colleague remarks that he was recruited by NEG as chief executive in the belief that he could be a strategic leader. “What they got was a deal maker,” he said. “Unfortunately all his deals were duds...”

Scott Dunn, the managing director of Rotala’s West Midlands bus operation Diamond Bus, has been shortlisted for the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics’ Young Manager of the Year award. The award winners will be announced in October at the organisation’s Annual Awards for Excellence. Dunn was recently crowned the Young Passenger Transport Professional of the Year at the New Transit-sponsored Passenger Transport Management Awards for his work in leading the turn arou

London transport commissioner Peter Hendy has made the decision to only receive half of his annual bonus as a result of the current economic environment. Transport for London’s annual report reveals Hendy’s decision and also divulges that other senior members of staff will also receive a lower bonus than previous years, with chief officers, directors and other senior members of staff affected by the move. Hendy received a salary of £348,000 according to TfL’s report for

There are not many London bus drivers that have a parallel career as a prize-winning novelist, but Marcus Mills is one of them, and with his latest book, the Bristol-born author is on familiar territory. The Maintenance of Headway, transports readers into “the bizarre world of the bus drivers who take us to work, to the supermarket, to the match and home again”. It finds, in Mills’ trademark deadpan style, that buses are run more for the convenience of the operator than for t

Transport for London has welcomed the RMT leadership’s acceptance of London Underground’s assurances on jobs and its efforts to avoid compulsory redundancies, but stressed that nothing has changed following the RMT’s recent 48hrs strike.   LU has said that it had always maintained that it would do all it could to avoid compulsory redundancies following the integration of Metronet and the need to cut around 1,000 posts in order to avoid duplication.   LU also said

Strike action planned for tomorrow at National Express East Anglia by members of the ASLEF union has been suspended after the train operator offered a new deal. The move comes as ASLEF, the RMT and the TSSA began a third 48-hour stoppage this morning. Commenting on the deal, Andrew Chivers, managing director of NXEA, said: “We’re pleased to be able to advise our customers that the industrial action by the ASLEF union has been suspended. We will endeavour to run the best service pos

National Express East Anglia's attempts to halt this week's strike action have been unsuccessful after three days of talks. The operator has said that ASLEF, RMT and TSSA unions' claims for a substantial pay increase are "wholly unrealistic", citing ASLEF's plea for a minimum pay increase of £1000, taking the average driver’s earnings to over £42,000 in the next 12 months. NXEA has invited ACAS to help the parties resolve the dispute, but have said none of the t

The chairman of Edinburgh Tram promoter, Transport Initiatives Edinburgh, has been named as the new chairman of council-owned bus operator Lothian Buses. David Mackay will succeed Pilar Smith, who has been chairman of the operator for the last decade, in January. Mackay took over as TIE chairman last December after Willie Gallagher departure from the company unexpectedly. He has headed TIE through a turbulent six months during which a dispute broke out between TIE and construction firm Bilfi

The proposed one-day strike on First bus services in South Yorkshire on Saturday August 8 has today been called off by Unite the Union. Bus services will therefore run as normal this Saturday, and no further days of strike action have been advised. "I am sure all our customers will be pleased that they will be able to use our services as normal this Saturday," said said Bob Hamilton, First South Yorkshire managing director. "This is a positive step forward to resolving th

First's bus services in Aberdeen will return to normal from Sunday August 9 following agreement of the cancellation of planned strike action by Unite at the end of last week. First and Unite have now agreed that full negotiations regarding a pay deal for the current financial year will take place over the next few weeks. The special timetables that were introduced two weeks ago will continue to operate until Saturday 8 August, with normal service resuming on all routes the following day.

Blackburn-based bus manufacturer Optare has announced that Roy Stanley, its principal shareholder and former chairman, is to step down from the board. He will not be seeking re-election. Stanley was the creator of today’s Optare business when he reversed Darwen Group, formed from the collapsed East Lancs business, into Optare in June 2008. He will remain as the company’s largest shareholder, but has decided to step down from the board in order to avoid any potential future confli

Members of the Unite union at Plymouth Citybus will stage a demonstration at Plymouth City Council's offices on Monday in protest at council plans to sell off its Plymouth Citybus operation. The council announced that it was investigating the possible sale of the business earlier this summer. Both First and Stagecoach are seen as likely bidders for the business if a sale proceeds. The demonstration will take place immediately before a full council meeting takes place in the chambers. Councillo

Merseytravel chair Cllr Mark Dowd has been named as the new chair of the Integrated Transport Authorities Special Interest Group. The group brings together leading Councillors from the six English Integrated Transport Authorities. Commenting on his new role, Dowd said: "I’m very pleased to take on the role of Chair of the ITA Special Interest Group again. Among the issues I will be raising with ministers on behalf of the six ITAs is the need to ensure that all ITAs continue to be ade

Andrew Haines has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority. Haines joins the CAA after a wide-ranging career in the rail industry.  After four years in charge of South West Trains. He then took charge at FirstGroup’s rail division but left last year due to ill health. Making the CAA appointment, transport secretary Lord Adonis said: “Andrew has a proven track record for reforming transport services.”

Transport secretary Lord Adonis has announced that Elaine Holt, until recently the managing director of First Capital Connect, has been appointed as chief executive of the new government-owned company that will take control of the East Coast rail franchise from National Express later this year. Holt left FCC in April in a surprise move. After leading FirstGroup’s successful bid for the franchise she was appointed managing director in 2006. She left FCC earlier this year to “pursue o

Dave Kaye, chief operating officer at First UK Bus, got a surprise on his 30th anniversary in the passenger transport business in July. Colleagues used advertising space on a new First double deck bus in Leeds to carry a giant picture of Kaye, and a message of congratulations. The bus is named ‘Dave Kaye - 30 years’.

“I will never forget it. There was a big steep hill and most passengers on the bus service would get on at the top and get off at the bottom,” reminisces Traveline Scotland chief executive John Elliot. “It was a pretty short journey and most conductors would only collect about four or five fares before reaching the bottom of the hill, but this one conductor always stopped the bus halfway so he could collect them all.” So just who was this conductor? Step forward Brian S

Few people better embody the ethos of a consummate passenger transport professional than Giles Fearnley. Confident and impressive on the national stage, dealing with big picture business and policy issues, he is also entirely at home at the grassroots level, delivering high quality services attuned to needs of local communities. He is unassuming when asked how he thinks he got to this status, and his new engagement as the first chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport - a unique rol

Once again the trade union Unite held a demonstration outside First’s Annual General Meeting in Aberdeen last month, to highlight the pay freeze that it is claimed the group has introduced across its UK bus operation. Unite said that the union’s 20,000 members who work for the group’s UK bus division were “incensed with the '0% pay policy', which means no pay rise this year even though the company has been making huge profits for years”. The move coincided with st

South West Trains today announced the appointment of Andy Pitt as its new managing director. Pitt (50), who has more than 26 years’ experience in the passenger rail industry, will take over from current MD Stewart Palmer when he retires in October. Currently business development director for Stagecoach's rail group, Pitt has previously held a number of senior management roles within British Railways, including at the South Wales and West regional railways division, and the Office of

First Group's UK Bus chief operating officer Dave Kaye was given a pleasant surprise to celebrate his 30th anniversary in the business, having joined the bus company in Halifax as a junior clerk. A First Volvo Eclipse double deck bus was branded with a giant picture of Kaye as well as a special message of congratulations. Fellow First UK Bus directors were on hand to surprise him at Headingley Sports Stadium in Leeds last Thursday July 16. Kaye, who knew nothing of the planned surprise, then

Arriva has appointed Jeremy Corfield as its new group health and safety manager. Based at Arriva’s head office in Sunderland, the 41-year-old takes on responsibility for developing the group’s strategic health and safety policies and procedures across 12 European countries. Corfield, from Gateshead, will oversee compliance with Arriva’s safety certification system and will support Arriva’s bus and rail businesses in maintaining an environment in which the safety of emp

Train operator Southern has announced its new executive team, which will lead the company in delivering the new South Central franchise which begins on September 20. The new Southern executive team and their roles are a follows: Alex Foulds - development director, responsible for business development and service quality Gerry McFadden - fleet director, responsible for the company’s engineering activities David Scorey - franchise improvement director, respo

Go Ahead has announced the appointment of Mike Hodson as managing director of its London Midland rail franchise with effect from July 20. Commenting on the move, Keith Ludeman, Go Ahead chief executive and chairman of London Midland parent Govia, said: "Mike Hodson was managing director of Thames Trains from 2003 to 2004, and has most recently been the operations and safety director of Southeastern, and deputy managing director. “Mike has led the key Southeastern timetable chan

Transport minister Lord Adonis has announced that Elaine Holt, until recently the managing director of First Capital Connect, has been appointed as chief executive of the new government-owned company that will take control of the East Coast rail franchise from National Express later this year. Holt left FCC in April in a surprise move and had led First’s successful bid for the franchise. She was subsequently appointed managing director in 2006 following the Aberdeen-based group's successf

The Leader of the RMT Union answers your questions, such as 'Don't you think that £40,000 a year is a lot for driving a Tube train?' People say that you only went on strike because the bosses sacked some of your mates. Is that right? Chris Martindale, Brighton I'm really glad you asked that Chris. That was the Big Lie during the strike... Click here to open the original story in another window

The EU Committee of UITP, the International Association of Public Transport, has appointed Tony Depledge - Arriva's director of policy since 2001 - as its new chairman. UITP is the international network for public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers. The UITP EU committee, established in 1965, aims to represent the common interests of public transport delivery to the EU institutions, monitoring legislation updating and advising its 3,100 members on policy relating to the

John Gorman First Scotland East Stuart Roughley (Pictured) Stagecoach Manchester John Gorman’s 20 years in the industry has taken him from bus driver to assistant operations director for First Scotland East. Meanwhile, with 31 years of service to the industry, Stuart Roughley’s drive has far from diminished. The judges said: “We were impressed by how John meets tough targets and his skills as a people manager. A great example of local management at its best. Stuart impres

Steve Clayton Arriva Steve Clayton has worked for the passenger transport industry for over 30 years, giving devoted service initially in the public sector at London Transport, and recently as a director of Arriva. In 2005, he moved to become group managing director - corporate affairs for the group, a post he held until his retirement earlier this year. He became President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport in 2005. Since then, he has continued to play an active and vital role in wor

Gareth Woodhouse CrossCountry Arriva’s CrossCountry intercity rail operation wanted to develop its website to be fit for the 21st century. The answer was XCEL - a project that would give rail customers more options when buying than tickets, planning their journey and booking their seat The new site cost £1m to develop and was key to the delivery of Arriva’s business plan for the new Cross Country franchise, breaking new ground in the key areas of ticketing and reservations. G

Kevin Short Youtextus.com Austin Birks Diamond Bus Kevin Short and Austin Birks have together introduced a real time information system that benefits both operators and travellers. Accessible to passengers via mobile phone or dedicated web page, both supported by Google mapping, the free to use service boosted customer confidence and provided Diamond Bus with both valuable daily vehicle movement charts and comprehensive schedule variation reports. The judges said: “We were greatly imp

Scott Dunn Diamond Bus Scott Dunn has been around buses since he was 10 years old. His first taste of the business was with his father’s Dunn-Line business, based in Nottingham. He helped to turn that business around. He is now managing director of West Midlands-based Diamond Bus, which is owned by AIM-listed Rotala. Once again, Dunn has transformed the business. The judges said: “We were impressed with Scott’s track record and personal commitment – both to the busines

Michael Brinicombe Stagecoach Manchester With 37 years in the industry, with consistent year-on-year improvements, with a deep respect by the people who work with him and for him, and with a pride and passion for his people, his passengers and his profession, Mike Brinicombe is a very extraordinary engineering manager. He impressed with both the length and the quality of his service to the industry rising from the post of apprentice fitter with GM Buses to his present role as fleet engineer

Roger French Brighton & Hove Roger French has been managing director of Go Ahead’s highly respected Brighton & Hove bus company for 13 years. His philosophy is one of building long standing relationships with the local community. “I am as proud to be a managing director of Brighton and Hove as I am to be a managing director within the city,” he has said. This result is that the profile of public transport in Brighton is seamlessly woven through every aspect of his c

Mal McGreevy Translink Translink’s Mal McGreevy is a chartered mechanical engineer and a fellow of the Institute of Railway Operators. Following an early career in aerospace, tobacco and paper industries, he joined Ulsterbus as an engineering manager in 1988, and was appointed chief executive, Ulsterbus, Citybus and Northern Ireland Railways in 1995. He was appointed general manager - rail services at Translink in 2004. The judges commented: “We were impressed by Mal’s centr

Mark Savelli First Glasgow After moving back and forth between the UK and Hong Kong, Mark Savelli took charge of FirstGroup’s 1,000-vehicle bus operation in Glasgow in 2006. Under his leadership, First Glasgow has achieved both revenue and patronage growth. Meanwhile, his innovative thinking, particularly in the field of recruiting from Glasgow’s socially excluded communities, is particularly impressive. The judges said: “It was Mark's dedication and commitment in Glasgow th

Matthew Wooll First Berkshire Matthew Wooll of bus company First Berkshire has used his experience and operational knowledge to increase passenger growth, improve customer service and assenger information, reduce passenger complaints and utilise modern technology to help promote services. Heading a team of six people he is certainly worthy of recognition for his demonstrable actions in marketing FirstGroup’s bus services in Berkshire. He lives in the area and travels on this own service

GERMAN technology firm INIT is implementing an innovative high-technology ticketing system for four regional bus companies owned by DB Stadtverkehr in Bavaria. As part of the package, INIT is also supplying its multi-client fleet management system MOBILE-ITCS, with which more than 3,000 vehicles will soon be controlled by a single standardized system. The ticketing element of the package, which uses the sophisticated EVENDpc system, combines a ticket printer with on-board computer functionality

There are not many people who would suggest there are many similarities between Hong Kong and Glasgow but First Glasgow managing director Mark Savelli, who scooped the Passenger Transport Professional of the Year award at this year’s Passenger Transport Management Awards, is one of them. “Both have an extremely dense population and low car ownership,” he says, adding with a smile that on a warm summer day, Glasgow can feel just as tropical as the Orient. Of course Savelli sho

There are hundreds of thousands of people working in the UK passenger transport sector. Many of them are unsung heroes, giving a lifetime of service through their careers, but with little recognition we often give to senior managers and industry personalities. The Passenger Transport Management Awards offered an opportunity to put a handful of them in the spotlight. The four winners of the ‘Unsung Heroes’ award each display the hard work and devoted service which keeps public transpo

1960 - Apprentice Engineer United Automobile Services After leaving school at the age of 15, Lockhead began his career in passenger transport in his home town of Darlington as an apprentice engineer. He left school on the Friday and started his new job on the following Monday. “My Dad’s neighbour leant over the fence and I asked when I was finishing school,” Lockhead recalls. “He fixed it up.” 1979 - Chief Engineer Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Execu

It’s a landmark year for FirstGroup and its chief executive, Sir Moir Lockhead, but also a pivotal one. The company is celebrating its twentieth birthday and Lockhead has spent all 20 years at the helm. Meanwhile, later this year the bus and rail company will move into its new purpose built global headquarters in Aberdeen. The celebrations will be somewhat subdued, however, as the group gets to grips with the impact of recession. Earlier this year Lockhead announced 3,500 job cuts across F

Last month MPs on the Public Accounts Committee published a damning indictment of the Department for Transport’s rail franchising policy. Stand up Dr Mike Mitchell, the man who approved the DfT’s policy when director general - rail, and now responsible for much of the rail network as director general - national networks. Commons Committee reports can often seem naïve to experts, but this one was right on the mark. It states that Mitchell and his cohorts are failing to take acco

Three years ago Graham Eccles retired as main board director of Stagecoach’s rail division stating: “I’m leaving the heavy rail industry and I won’t be back.” There is little doubt he meant it. Eccles was 60, and been working on the railways for 43 years after joining BR from school as a porter. He had actually intended to leave a year earlier but was persuaded to postpone his departure. So the announcement that Eccles has agreed to become deputy chairman of Go A

A group of employees from Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden, have been taking part in a project in which a personal CO2 “pedometer” has kept a check on what their commuting to work costs in the form of carbon emissions. The results of the project demonstrate how Green IT can show people how they can help to reduce the climate threat and thereby increase their motivation to change their behaviour and help to improve the environment. The project saw journeys made by the Volvo employees regi

This month’s two-day industrial action on the London Underground by members of the RMT union gave public transport the kind of media exposure it doesn’t want. But it didn’t do much for the staff’s interests either, and may ultimately serve to reshape the way in which disputes are resolved - and the overall power balance between unions and employers. Transport commission for London Peter Hendy couldn’t resist a quip at this month’s Passenger Transport Manageme

City bus operator, First Group in Aberdeen, has this week appointed Bob Dorr as managing director of the company. Bringing a wealth of bus industry experience with him, Lincolnshire-born Dorr (55) is delighted to be moving north and taking over the company, which will be moving in to its new depot later this year. Dorr ’s experience in the bus industry began more than 30 years ago when, following his parents’ lead, he became a bus conductor with Lincolnshire Road Car - a subs

London Underground and union leaders will hold talks later in an attempt to avert a 48-hour Tube strike which could leave millions of travellers stranded. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union plan to walk out from 1859 BST on Tuesday in a dispute over pay and proposed job cuts. On Friday LU offered staff a four-year pay deal or a two-year deal which promised an "above inflation pay rise"...

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan has announced his promotion to the role of transport minister on Twitter. "...I have been asked to be Minister of State for Transport and a Privy Councillor attending Cabinet on transport issues." Khan has promoted his new role as "first Muslim cabinet minister in Gordon Brown's reshuffle" and his late father drove buses around Wandsworth for 25 years. Elected as Tooting MP in May 2005, Khan was made parliamentary under-secretary of state in the de

Transport secretary Geoff Hoon has today resigned from government and rail minister Lord Andrew Adonis will succeed him. TransportXtra understands that Angela E Smith, parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown, will become Adonis' PPS. Commenting on Adonis' new appointment of Adonis shadow transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said: "Today's changes mean Labour have had five Secretaries of State for Transport since the last election. "This continual merry-go-round of mi

London Underground today met with all trade unions for negotiations towards a revised four-year offer of 1.5% this year and RPI +0.5% in future years, with no reduction in working hours or any other changes in terms and conditions.   The offer also involves a commitment by all parties to set up a Forum to discuss working arrangements required for the 2012 Games.  This is LU’s recommended offer.   However, following representations from the ASLEF, TSSA and Unite unions, L

Talks aimed at averting a 48-hour Tube strike in a pay and jobs row have "completely broken down", a union said. Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members plan to strike from 1859 BST on 9 June, in a move expected to bring most of the Tube to a standstill. The RMT accused Transport for London (TfL) of "rank hypocrisy" in rejecting a 5% pay rise request while paying 123 TfL managers more than £100,000 a year...

Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday refused to meet union bosses in talks aimed at averting the 48-hour Tube strike.  His refusal increased the chances of the walkout going ahead from 7pm on Tuesday June 9. The strike would close the entire network, which is used by 3.5 million passengers a day, and could cost the capital's businesses £100 m in lost production...

London Underground chief operating officer, Howard Collins, has said that the RMT is making "vastly inflated pay demands" and ignoring a duplication of back office roles, following the union's proposed 48-hour strike next month. The RMT has said that a pay increase of anything less than 5% would be simply unacceptable and has called for a reduction in working hours without loss of pay and improved travel facilities. LU said that it offered staff a fair and affordable deal of a 1%

First Group’s longest-serving managing director, bus operator First in Aberdeen’s George Mair is leaving the business after 38 years’ continuous service with First and its successors Aberdeen Corporation Transport Department. Bob Dorr who was, until recently, managing director of First's Essex business, will succeed him. Mair joined the company as a parcel boy in 1971 and then worked his way through a variety of supervisory and management positions, across all sections

The Go Ahead Group has appointed Graham Eccles as deputy chairman of rail franchise London Midland.   Eccles, who will be responsible for assisting the London Midland management team in recovering operational performance at the franchise, retired as head of rail at Stagecoach in 2006, after 43 years rail industry, having taken on part-time work for the NHS. Keith Ludeman, chairman of London Midland, and chief executive of Go Ahead said: "I am delighted that Graham Eccles has agree

London Midland has announced that industrial action by members of the RMT Union, scheduled for Tuesday May 19 Thursday May 21, has now been suspended following an agreement between the union and London Midland’s management team. There will now be a full train service on Tuesday and Thursday between Northampton and London Euston, as well as on the Marston Vale and Abbey Lines. Steve Banaghan, London Midland's managing director said: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreem

Two First bus drivers in Leeds appeared on national GMTV this week to highlight adult learning opportunities during National Learning Week (May 11-15). Linda Coyle and Barry Young, like many of First's employees, have taken advantage of its Skills for Life learning and development programmes to improve their overall prospects and boost their literacy and numeracy, having both left school at around the age of 15. GMTV was so impressed by their stories it interviewed them live to a TV audien

Like many other senior transport professionals of his generation, Nick Brown started his working life as a BR management trainee. But the way his career has developed since then has given him a truly unique perspective on the transport industry, its development and the difficulties it currently faces. At National Express Group, Brown’s CV included spells as managing director of train operating companies Midland Mainline, Central Trains and ScotRail. However, the predictable element of his

Malcolm Buchanan, chairman of consultancy Colin Buchanan and Partners, has retired from the board after 35 years with them. He joined the consultancy - founded by his father in 1964 - in 1975. Before that he worked for the former Greater London Council as a planner in the planning and transportation department. He will continue to work with the company on a consultancy basis. Buchanan (pictured) has been involved in an extensive range of UK and overseas projects including the evolution of

Dean Finch has left First after 10 years with the company to become the new chief executive of Tube Lines. Finch was group chief operating officer at Aberdeen-based First and was regarded as the heir apparent to chief executive Sir Moir Lockhead. However, the 42-year-old has now left the group with immediate effect to take charge at Tube Lines. He replaces Terry Morgan who is leaving the infraco to become non-executive chairman of CrossRail. Lockhead paid tribute to Finch’s “un

Network Rail's chief executive, Iain Coucher, has said that he will forgo any annual bonus this year to avoid clouding NR's success story on performance. Coucher informed the company's remuneration committee that he has taken a personal decision to withdraw from the annual bonus scheme for 2008/9, although he will still receive payment for the long term element of the bonus scheme, designed to replicate share options within a plc. "Today I want to be able to talk freely about Network

In one month's time, the shining efforts and talent of some of the industry's best managers will be recognised at the second annual Passenger Transport Management Awards ceremony. Supported by Local Transport Today, the 12 awards are designed to foster management talent in the industry's ground passenger transport modes in the UK. They range from rewarding innovation and new thinking, local and operational management, and engineering to Young Passenger Transport Professional, Unsung Heroes

Former Transdev Blazefield chairman, Giles Fearnley has been elected to the  new role of chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, for an initial period of three years. CPT chief executive, Simon Posner said that the new role was needed because of impacts of  CPT’s growth on the workload of the president and his own role. “Incorporating a chairman into the CPT structure will provide us with a more constant involvement and supervision of the business function an

The recession has taken its toll on the fortunes of transport’s millionaires according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List. It reveals that Stagecoach founders Brian Souter and Ann Gloag have seen nearly a third wiped off their fortune. They now have an estimated wealth of £473m, making them joint 110th richest in the UK. Much of their wealth is derived from their significant shareholding in the group that they started with a handful of vehicles in 1980. They also have other weal

Neil Scales likes to describe himself as a “simple Geordie engineer”, but there’s nothing simple about the range of activities in which Scales is involved. His main role is as chief executive and director general of Merseytravel, the Passenger Transport Executive for the Merseyside region. This covers buses, trains, ferries and tunnels for starters. He is also chair of PTEG, the body that represents the six PTEs that are responsible for public transport in England’s city

Up to 100 staff from Bristol and Somerset who work in administrative roles with bus operator First Bus have been told their jobs are at risk. Drivers and maintenance staff were not affected by the move which the company said was due to tough economic times. "Decisions which affect the workforce are always difficult to make. We deeply regret any uncertainty the situation causes," a First spokesman said... Click here to open the original BBC story in a new window

Train operator First Great Western’s “star employee”, Wayne Spence, has received an MBE for going the extra mile for passengers. Platform supervisor, Spence, aged 48, was honoured in the New Year Honours at Buckingham Palace following 28 years of service to the transport industry. Currently based at Bristol Temple Meads, Wayne is always to happy to provide up-to-date information to First Great Western customers and has even been known to find passengers in the café to

Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive has launched a new recruitment website to help attract graduates interested in a future in project management. The PTE - which is responsible for major transport infrastructure across the county - is looking for three graduates to join its inaugural scheme. The two-year programme is aimed at developing project managers, with permanent roles at GMPTE for successful candidates. During the scheme, graduates will work in several project roles, as we

London’s transport commissioner, Peter Hendy, is to address a meeting of young bus and rail professionals in London next month. The meeting is open to members of the Young Bus Managers Network and the IRO Young Professionals - an organisation for young rail managers. It will take place at the Institute of Directors in London on the afternoon of May 11. The theme of the meeting will be integration between transport modes. Aside from his role at Transport for London, Hendy is also chair

Readers may remember George Blain and John O’Gorman, two long-serving bus drivers from First Group’s Parkhead depot in Glasgow. The pair, who retired last month after a total of 83 years of service (Transit March 20), got the surprise of their lives when they received a thank you message with a difference. Blain (64) and O’Gorman (64), both from Springboig, accrued 44 years and 39 years service driving for First in Glasgow and the company joined forces with its bus advertisin

Alison Howard joins Stagecoach Yorkshire as the new marketing manager. She will be responsible for leading the bus operator’s marketing team, working with Stagecoach’s commercial department to implement and communicating new promotions, developments and community activity. One of Howard’s (pictured) key priorities will be to promote the company’s network of bus services centered around Barnsley, the Dearne Valley, Sheffield and Chesterfield. Joining from Halifax-based Mar

Stagecoach is launching its first ever group-wide ‘Green Week’ on April 20. As well as highlighting the environmental benefits of using public transport, Stagecoach Green Week aims to inform staff and passengers of ways in which the company is reducing its carbon footprint. Launching Green Week, Stagecoach chief executive, Brian Souter, said: “This is a very important initiative for our company. We want to grow our business in a sustainable way, enhancing the communities in w

At an award ceremony held at the St Mary’s Stadium, Linda Wellman from Totton was named as Bluestar Bus Driver of the Year.  The annual award is presented to the driver who is judged as exemplary in their standard of customer care, safety, punctuality on the network and has a 100% attendance record. Alex Hornby, operations manager at Bluestar, said that former print worker Wellman, who joined the company as a trainee driver in 2006 and now drives on many of the key routes, is often m

To showcase the benefits of apprenticeships to employers in the passenger transport sector, GoSkills has developed a series of case study films. The films, which were created as part of the LSC-sponsored Apprenticeships Week, feature apprentices and their employers and trainers talking about the benefits of apprenticeship programmes. The film production team visited three sector employers who offer apprenticeship programmes; National Express East Anglia, Servisair and Stagecoach. The films are

Mechanical engineer Stacy McElroy is used to being a standout individual. As a student she was just one of a handful of women on her course at UMIST - now the University of Manchester. Now she is among just 10 women to have been part of the Association of Train Operating Companies’ prestigious graduate engineering training scheme in its six-year history. The 25-year-old’s experience on the course has ranged from spanner wielding to designing an important safety improvement on train

First Group has appointed Alan Pilbeam as managing director of its newly-merged Essex and Eastern Counties businesses. First announced its plans to merge the two operations earlier this year (Transit February 20). The group was responding to an environment of increasing costs. The neighbouring operations are similar-sized and both carry out many of the same administrative and back-office tasks. Pilbeam, a rising star within First’s UK bus division, has been in charge of Norwich-based Eas

Network Rail has confirmed the appointment of its future chairman, Rick Haythornthwaite, who has now started with the company as a non-executive director. The confirmation follows a Network Rail meeting with its members, Network Rail's equivalent of shareholder - ahead of formal ratification in its July AGM as a normal election resolution, when current chairman Sir Ian McAllister steps down. Haythornthwaite is currently non-executive chairman of Mastercard and was CEO of Invensys between 200

At least 5,000 people a year are set to benefit from a new Midlands Training Academy, officially opened this month in Aston by John Healey MP, minister of state for local government and communities. National Express, one of the region’s biggest employers, has invested £235,000 in redeveloping the building that now homes the new academy in Miller Street, Aston. It is the third of its type to be opened by the UK’s leading coach and bus company in the last two years, joining acad

Network Rail has called on the government to support equality for apprenticeship schemes and reduce their bureaucracy to stimulate the country’s economy and get people into work. Responding to the government’s ‘Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Bill’, the rail infrastructure controller, one of the UK’s largest investors in vocational training,  wants apprenticeships for people over 19 years of age fully funded. It also wants a significant reductio

First Group has announced 3,500 job cuts to compensate for the economic slowdown. Half will come at its North American bus and coach operations, 1,100 at its UK bus operations and 650 at UK rail operations. In a statement, First said that the job cuts and “other payroll actions” would form half of a £200m efficiency programme to ensure that the group remains robust in this more challenging economic environment”. The rest would come from a variety of “smaller action

It is an important year for GoSkills, the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for passenger transport. This year it will discover whether the government intends to renew its license, which expires in November. The process has now begun and GoSkills must show that it is succeeding in its mission to work with employers UK-wide to improve the skills that make a difference to the performance of the passenger transport sector. GoSkills chairman Nick Mitchell believes that its time for the SSC to raise its p

Contingency plans put in place by London Midland during strikes by former Silverlink conductors on March 12 and 16 enabled 80% of services to run in both the peak and off-peak. An emergency timetable was produced and extra services run on top of it as resources permitted. More than 60 London Midland managers worked on the trains, with another 100 members of staff covering for them and providing support at stations. The company also said that at least 10 of the 100 conductors involved in the dis

South West Trains has denied accusations from the RMT that it fought a “dirty campaign” to head off strikes in a dispute over plans to cut 660 jobs. After a ballot which the union said was “narrowly against strike action”, general secretary Bob Crow accused the company of intimidating staff. “SWT fought a dirty campaign, refusing to implement a pay increase, which would have adversely affected redundancy pay, and scaring people into believing their severance money

Weeks of speculation about the future of rail replacement specialist and coach operator Fraser Eagle ended last week with the news that the Padiham-based firm had entered administration. Manchester-based Baker Tilly was appointed as administrator of Fraser Eagle on March 10. It immediately announced that the firm’s remaining 120 staff would be made redundant. A spokesman for Baker Tilly told Transit that it was hopeful that some parts of the business could be sold, including “certai

Bus builder Alexander Dennis has announced that it is looking at making a significant number of staff redundant following a downturn in orders in recent months. The news comes just weeks after Ballymena-based competitor Wrightbus announced that it was looking to make over 200 staff redundant following a “sudden downturn in demand” (Transit March 6). It is understood that around 150 staff could face redundancy with at least half of the job losses at its Falkirk factory with the rema

Network Rail is planning a major reorganisation of its National Delivery Service (NDS) with over 200 staff from Waterloo, Birmingham, York and Glasgow set to be relocated to Milton Keynes, starting in September. The move will mark the beginning of Network Rail’s programme to transfer several thousand personnel to a new headquarters in the town. Network Rail said the NDS, which provides planning support, equipment and materials to engineering teams, was being reorganised as part of its pre

Trevor Roberts has been appointed as the new managing director of Blackpool Transport, a role he will start from start from June. Roberts succeeds Steve Burd who is leaving the company to become managing director of Stagecoach in Warwickshire. Roberts (pictured) is currently managing director at Newport Transport and has been at the company for eight years. He has transformed Newport Transport during this period, turning round its financial performance and thoroughly modernising its operations

A rising bus industry star has been announced as the winner of the 2009 Chris Moyes Scholarship Trust Award. Stagecoach’s Carole Morgan, who is currently an assistant operations manager at the group’s depot in Worthing, has been announced as the recipient of the £1,500 prize. Morgan, 25, who is currently undertaking the role in Worthing as part of her graduate management training scheme with the Perth-based group, proposes to look at the way in which the industry caters for

The Chris Moyes Scholarship Trust has announced its award for 2009 which will allow the recipient to study and report on various aspects of road passenger transport to the benefit to the travelling public. This year's award goes to Carole Morgan of Stagecoach South, who proposes to look at the way in which the industry caters for the 16-25-year-old age-group. Speaking on behalf of the trustees, Iain Macbriar said: “We are very pleased to be able to announce this award, and we congratulate

First Group chief executive, Sir Moir Lockhead, was honoured at the Institute of Directors Scotland ‘Director of the Year Awards’ last week and named Global Director of the Year. This was the second year in a row that the First Group chief has been recognised at the awards. Last year he was presented with the Director of the Year Award. Commenting on the news, Lockhead said: “Having won the Director award in 2008, I was very surprised to be shortlisted for the global award

Stagecoach has seen a huge increase in the number of applicants for its UK Bus graduate development programme. This year, 527 applications were submitted for the six places available on the scheme - almost three times as many as last year’s total of 178 applications. These figures appear to support recent evidence suggesting that there are fewer graduate places available in the UK as a result of the current economic climate. According to a recent survey by the Association of Graduate

David Bird, National Express’s customer services director, has left the group after almost five years in the post. Bird (pictured) will join electricity and gas company E-on as its director of operations and customer services  where, he told Transit, he will be responsible for 6000 people and in charge of a £400m budget. Before joining National Express, Bird was customer service executive for Vodafone.

The departure of London underground managing director Tim O’Toole at the end of next month will leave a gap in management that Transport for London says it has yet to resolve. O’Toole, who took up the reins as head of the tube in 2003 under previous London mayor Ken Livingstone, announced his departure last week as a result of a desire to return to the United States. A spokesman for TfL would not reveal exactly when O’Toole tendered his resignation or what his contractua

When Kim Purcell joined Arriva’s graduate programme in August 2006 she never imagined that 21 months later she would be managing one of the European transport group’s bus depots. At the age of 24 years Purcell became Arriva North East’s youngest and first female depot manager - taking the helm at Arriva’s Stockton depot in autumn 2008 with responsibility for its 175 drivers and 15 clerical staff. Everyday Purcell, from Blyth, works alongside the depot’s engine

YES The case for regulating customer service standards in the transport sector was taken on by Sheena Pickersgill of Metro, the West Yorkshire PTE. She said that she felt that customer service should not have to be prescriptive, however, the actual reality of the current bus market, particularly in West Yorkshire, meant that she felt there were grounds for making minimum standards of customer service mandatory. Pickersgill agreed with other speakers that good customer service should be

Over recent years there has been a growing recognition of the importance of delivering excellent customer service in the passenger transport sector. Formerly state-run utilities, the bus and rail industries are seeking to complete the transition to customer-orientated retailers. There are a band of people in the industry who are absolutely passionate about the need to do this and they have been winning the argument. However, with the economy heading into recession and businesses under pressure t

The Association of Train Operating Companies is seeking to cut staff numbers by 20% as a result of financial pressures affecting its train operator members. The cutback from 210 to 170 staff is being accompanied by a reorganisation which will see some departments reduced in size or disbanded and their responsibilities and personnel reallocated. It will also continue the process of reducing centralisation. Whereas 19 staff reported directly to previous director general George Muir, that has been

Former Optare executive Bob Coombes has left the bus manufacturing group Alexander Dennis as managing director of its Yorkshire-based Plaxton business. The news comes following a restructuring of the senior management structure team at ADL by the recently appointed chief operating officer Brian Davidson, which will see three general managers covering Falkirk, Scarborough and Guildford reporting directly to him. Coombes reverted to his role as managing director of ADL's chassis business on

Network Rail has spoken out against claims by the TSSA rail union that a letter from Network Rail’s senior non-executive director, Jim Cornell, means senior executives will get ‘gigantic bonuses’. A spokesperson for Network Rail said: "This is palpably misleading. The Jim Cornell letter is not about bonuses but all about proposed changes to next year's management incentive plan for all Network Rail people. "The letter details adding further stretching targets to

Transport for London has announced that Tim O'Toole CBE, the managing director of London Underground since 2003, is stepping down to return to the United States. O'Toole has maintained his home in the US throughout his time at Transport for London.  Commenting on his sudden decision to leave, he said: "I am sad to leave London Underground but after six years in London it is time to go home." "LU's customers and employees can look forward to the continuing transformation

Northern Ireland bus builder The Wright Group has announced this afternoon that it is to commence a 90 day consultation with staff about the possibility of 235 redundancies at its Ballymena headquarters. The decision was explained to staff earlier today. The Wright Group will be using this consultation period to actively explore ways in which it can reduce the impact of this decision and the overall number of redundancies. The decision has had to be taken in response to a slowdown in market

Ballymena-based bus manufacturer The Wright Group has announced this afternoon that it is to commence a 90 day consultation with staff about the possibility of 235 redundancies at its Ballymena headquarters. The decision was explained to staff earlier today. The Wright Group will be using this consultation period to actively explore ways in which it can reducethe impact of this decision and the overall number of redundancies. The decision has had to be taken in response to a slowdown in market

Mike Cooper has been appointed as managing director of the group’s UK Bus division. Latterly managing director - UK Regions, which covered Arriva’s bus operations outside London, Cooper (pictured) has outlined a new management structure and made six new appointments. Managing director for Arriva London, Mark Yexley will take on the new role of operations director for Arriva UK bus.  He will be responsible for operational performance across all the group’s UK bus business

Plans by rail operator Southeastern to make 300 of its  management and administrative staff redundant have been met by strong resistance from rail unions. The Govia subsidiary announced the plans to make the staff cuts, largely from administrative and managerial positions, in January in response to the worsening economic situation  (Transit January 23). The TSSA union says that it understands 90 members of staff were sent home immediately after being told their posts were being scrap

The “Our People” section of the CSR reports could have been the dullest of all: vocational training, driver retention, ethnic diversity – yawn, yawn - but it isn’t. You have to read between the lines. If you do, you will see how five groups in their different ways are struggling to create added value from the one distinguishing thing they do: manage people. Their business is to organise large numbers of people, in small groups or alone, doing fairly simple things consiste

Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter will directly oversee the management of the group’s South West Trains franchise after Ian Dobbs, chief executive of Stagecoach UK Rail, was made redundant. Dobbs has spent three and a half years in the post since arriving from Australia. However, a review of costs across Stagecoach’s rail business in response to the current economic downturn has led the group to part with his services. Stagecoach has already announced that 660 redundancies wil

Transport for London commissioner Peter Hendy has given his first interview since Boris Johnson ousted Ken Livingstone as mayor of London in May last year. Some predicted that the new mayor would replace Hendy, who had floated the idea of “refuting Boris’s public transport ideas” in a leaked email during last year’s election campaign. However, Johnson has kept him in the £332,000-a-year post. Hendy was asked by the Evening Standard whether he apologised for the pa

Network Rail has appointed Patrick Butcher as its new group finance director. He will take over from Ron Henderson, who recently announced his retirement, in April. Butcher (pictured) was latterly finance director at freight operator English Welsh & Scottish Railway, between 2004 and 2008, where he led the refinancing of the business and was part of the team that oversaw the transition of the ownership of EWS to DB Schenker. He also spent two years with London Underground as finance direct

CrossRail’S new chief executive has been confirmed as the man who oversaw the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Rob Holden CBE, who is currently chief executive of London &?Continental Railways, will take up the new role on April 1 when Douglas Oakervee OBE moves across the organisation to the new post of non-executive chairman, from his current role as executive chairman. Holden made his name through the delivery of the CTRL, now renamed High Speed 1, linking the Channe

This week’s announcement of the Passenger Transport Management Awards for 2009 marks the start of the second year of this scheme, which was so well-received by the industry when we launched it a year ago. We are once again aiming to recognise and reward the skills, talent and commitment of managers at all levels working in all forms of ground public passenger transport. As last year, we are seeking nominations in a range of categories, covering everything from leadership of major enterpri

Lord Snape, who is employed as a public affairs advisor by First Group, is seeking to clear his name after he was accused of offering to change the law in return for cash. The former chairman of bus company Travel West Midlands denied accusations that he asked for payment to help amend a bill and warned he was considering legal action against the Sunday newspaper behind the claims. He welcomed a full inquiry, because he said he had done nothing wrong. Snape is one of four peers accused of agre

Network Rail’s board has appointed Rick Haythornthwaite as its new designate chairman; his election will be formally put before members at the company’s annual general meeting in July as a normal election resolution. The appointment comes after existing chairman Sir Ian McAllister announced, in October last year, that he would step down from the board following this year’s AGM. As chief executive officer of Invensys between 2001 and 2005, Haythornthwaite (pictured) led the

Trent Barton parent company  Wellglade has announced that managing director Brian King is to step down from his role in April. He will be succeeded by Jeff Counsell, the current director of service delivery. King will move to the newly created role of part-time chairman. The changes will also see commercial director Ian Morgan move to a new part-time role as King’s deputy. No other changes are planned to the seven-strong senior management team of the Heanor-based operator. King is a

As I put the radio on in the car  the first voice I heard was the Honourable Member for Manchester Blackley. This time he was not talking about transport, instead about dyslexia. His case was that it doesn’t exist and that there is an urgent need to dismantle what he called the ‘dyslexia industry’ in order to start solving the problem of the growing numbers in society with reading and writing problems.   What made it so interesting - and for once he gained my con

Dublin Bus is to cut 290 jobs and reduce its fleet by 120 vehicles in a bid to reduce losses as a result of the economic downturn. The cuts amount to a 10% cut in both total fleet and staff numbers at the firm, which operates the urban bus network in the Irish capital. They are being made as a result of a “serious and challenging” financial position in 2009. Losses for the current financial year are projected at €31m, up from €10m in 2008, unless “corrective action&

Trent Barton parent company Wellglade has announced that managing director Brian King is to step down from his role in April. He will be succeeded by Jeff Counsell, the current director of service delivery. King will move to the newly created role of part-time chairman. The changes will also see commercial director Ian Morgan move to a new part-time role as King’s deputy. No other changes are planned to theseven-strong senior management team of the Heanor-based operator. King is an exper

Marjory Rodger, the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s director of government relations for Scotland, has been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List. Rodger receives this award for her services to the bus industry. Rodger (pictured) joined CPT as director Scotland in 1999. She has 20 years experience in the operational side of the bus and coach industry, and was managing director of bus and coach operator Rennies of Dunfermline for nine years before workin

National Express London has achieved the Investors in People Standard following three years of work to expand training, development and communication procedures for all employees. The bus operator, which employs over 1,500 people at the regional head office in Camberwell and depots at Battersea, Croydon, Twickenham, Hayes and Byfleet, was required to meet the Investors in People 10 indicators of success in order to attain the standard. Paul McGowan, director London and South East, said: “

International rail consultancy Interfleet Technology is celebrating 10 years of its Graduate Development Scheme, which has helped induct 62 graduates into the international rail industry. The scheme was introduced in 1998 and of the 62 graduates that Interfleet has employed, 40 are still with the company in various roles at its offices around the world. The two-year long programme accepts entrants fresh from university and provides them with a thorough grounding in the rail industry. David Rol

It is four months since Reading Transport launched its brand new Academy which has replaced the old style training school. And in the 16 weeks since the Academy was launched no fewer than 19 drivers have gone through the learning and development processes - and passed their PCV driving tests. The immediate success of the Academy has delighted council-owned Reading Transport, which introduced the change last August. Chief executive officer James Freeman said the decision to establish a new Aca

A bus driver with over 51 years’ service has been appointed an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list. Jim Newton from Bryanston near Blandford was awarded the MBE for services to public transport in Dorset. Newton, now 79, began his career in the industry in Blandford with Wilts & Dorset in September 1951. He joined as a conductor following national service as a fitter in the Army Service Corps at Blandford. He underwent driver training in 1954 and continued to work for Wilts

January It was a difficult start to 2008 for Network Rail. The infrastructure controller came under fire after engineering works over Christmas and New Year overran by several days. It coincided with the company’s chairman, Sir Ian McAllister, being awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List. The auction of Laing Rail concludes with Deutsche Bahn agreeing to pay fund manager Henderson a very full price of around £130m, so securing th

SIR Moir Lockhead began the New Year on a high when he claimed top spot in the Transit ‘Power 50’ list of the most powerful and influential people in UK passenger transport. Having appeared as number one on the first ever Power 50 list last year, the First Group chief executive has retained his position. The Power 50 list includes industry executives, politicians, regulators and public officials. It is enclosed with this issue of Transit. “Last year was a very good year for S

UK Bus Managing Director Nicola Shaw has joined the First Group Board as Director responsible for bus in the UK, Ireland and Germany. Shaw joined the Group in 2005 from the Strategic Rail Authority where she was Managing Director of Operations. Sir Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive said: “As Managing Director UK Bus Nicola led the focus on service quality and operational performance to improve services for passengers, together with delivering more efficient working practices to underpin the

First Group has installed Alan Pilbeam as managing director of its Eastern Counties bus business following the departure of former boss Peter Iddon. Pilbeam is seen as a rising star within First’s UK bus division, having joined the business in 2005. He was deputy managing director in the team headed by Ian Davies that turned around the group’s struggling Manchester operation. He was subsequently appointed managing director of the group’s bus operations in Huddersfield and Hali

National Express chairman David Ross last week tendered his resignation to the group as the fallout surrounding his business affairs intensified. The Carphone Warehouse founder quit after it was revealed he had failed to disclose that he had mortgaged his shareholdings in a number of companies, including National Express. Ross is also believed to be experiencing financial difficulties after a commercial property business in which he had a substantial stake collapsed. He has already indicated t

Peter Iddon, the managing director of First Eastern Counties, has announced that he plans to step down from his role early next year. He will be the fifth MD to leave the operator since 2001. Previously engineering director, he succeeded Keith Andrews in early 2007 after Andrews departed the company in November 2006 following a period of compassionate leave. Iddon says he has made the decision in order to pursue other interests and spend more time at home with his family. He has made the

One time motor fitter in the bus industry at Sheffield Transport, John Clayton worked his way up the ladder to become engineering director for First South Yorkshire. With 35 years experience, he is due to retire at the end of the year - which, for him, will be a challenge in itself. Clayton progressed through a number of roles to engineering manager at Rotherham for 18 months. In 1990 the company was in a redundancy situation, but he was involved in winning a £4m contract to refurbish 500

More than 100 members of staff have been honoured for their outstanding contribution to Go North East at their annual ‘Go the Extra Mile’ awards dinner. Among those receiving recognition was driver, Brian Cross who was presented with the highest level Safe Driving Award after clocking up more than 40 years of driving for the company without a single accident. Five drivers were presented with awards for 30 years of safe driving with a further 12 honoured in the 20 Years Safe Driving c