Wednesday 31 October 2007

Top of the pile

OK, it's a day late, but here is some info on the new people who will be assisting Andrew Haines to (hopefully) turn FGW around. Andrew is, of course, at the top, but he has appointed three route directors to take charge of a specific part of the network and ensure that it is brought up to scratch. This is to ensure more local ownership and that each part of the network receives the attention it deserves.

First up is John Curley, Route Director for the West region. Joh has been in the rail industry for 30 years. He was Southampton Area Manager for British Rail and Retail Director for the South West Division of Network South East as well as being Retail Director for Network Rail South East. He was Commercial Director for the South West Zone of Railtrack and National Performance Director and Regional Director for Great Western. He's been with First Group since 2004, when he joined as Group Infrastructure Director for the Rail Division.

This guy knows his poop. He's spent his entire career in the rail industry, dealt with tracks and trains and he knows how to get things done.

Next is Mark Hopwood, Rote Director for High Speed Services.

Mark has been recruited from his previous positionas Managing Director of London Lines (Silverlink, C2C and Gatwick Express)

Mark is another guy who has spent his entire career since 1989 in the rail industry. He's worked in Customer Service, Operations Control and Station Management. He was Passenger Negotiations Manager for Railtrack, Operations Director and board member for First North Western and Operations Director for London Lines.

Everywhere this guy has worked, there have en substantial improvements. Where he has occupied a senior position, things have never gotten worse. We are quite lucky to have him.

Lastly, Mike Carroll, Route Director for the East region. Mike is a former FGW Manging Director. He's been in the rail industry for over 20 years. He graduated from the British Rail Graduate Training Scheme. He's held managerial posts in operations, marketing, product development and quality. He's been Retail and Customer Servie Manager for Great Western before becoming director of Ratail and Distribution.

As Tim mentioned in my last post, this guy is no nonsense with a wide breadth of experience. He will be a great help.

Lastly, as Glenda has moved on, we have a new Customer Services Director, somethign that will probably be relevent to a lot of you. is name is James Burt. James has been headhunted from South West Trains, where he is OPerations Director, having previously been Customer Services Director. He has the experience and he has the knowledge, things that, in my opinion, have been lacking until now.

Well, that's it folks. These are your new faces in charge. Let's se what they can do.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am faintly optomistic.

Do you think that these changes would have come about if it had not been for the bad press FGW have recieved, the stick that they got from the papers, the questions in parliament, the fare strike and the Passenger Focus letter to the Times?

Tim

Anonymous said...

Good to see Mark Hopwood back - Also ex Thames Trains management.

Insider said...

Tim, I think that the things that you mention are all part of the package. The main reason, however, is that FGW dissapointed and let down its stakeholders. Goodwil had to be restored and a change was needed to do this.

In all honesty, whether anyone believes this or not, Alison's departiure really had nothing to do with her performance in the job. It had just got to the point where a new aproach was needed, and Moir felt that Andrew had the approach that was necessary to restore goodwill as well as get the service back on track.

It is good to see Mark back, he's a good guy an he'll make a diference.