Media centre

Wednesday 11 Nov 2015

New regional Network Rail boss vows to work with communities to deliver economic growth

Region & Route:

| Eastern

Network Rail’s new route managing director for the London North Eastern and East Midlands route says he is excited about the future ahead of work to electrify and upgrade two major rail lines that will improve journey times for millions of passengers.

Rob McIntosh, who began his 19-year career on the railway as a graduate overhead line engineer in York, has been appointed to lead the team through the next period of change and improvement on a route which sees demands for passenger and freight growth grow as fast as any in the country.

Connecting London and its northern Home Counties commuter belt to the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the north east of England, the route covers more than 2,000 miles of railway which carries hundreds of thousands of passengers and thousands of tonnes of freight every day. Network Rail’s investment as part of its Railway Upgrade Plan includes the electrification of the Midland Main Line and the TransPennine route.

Ahead of starting the role in January, Rob said: “We are about to deliver two major electrification and upgrade infrastructure projects as well as a host of other improvements all across the network that will bring noticeable reliability, connectivity and economic benefits to the towns and cities we serve.

“The unprecedented levels of investment we are making to upgrade the East Coast Main Line, the Midland Main Line and the TransPennine routes, as well as all the other planned upgrades and improvements in this control period that will benefit the 180m passengers who use our route each year, make this a genuinely exciting time to be taking on this role.”

Rob also underlined the importance of the relationship between Network Rail and passengers, communities and lineside neighbours as work continues to build a better railway.

“Network Rail is a complex organisation and can be seen as difficult to engage with. I want us to change that perception,” he said.

“What we do every day and night of the year to not just maintain, but upgrade the rail infrastructure that is so vital to this country, creates the opportunity for growth and prosperity for the towns, cities and communities we serve.  It is only right that we play our role in developing and delivering their transport needs as part of a genuine partnership.”

Rob, who lives in North Yorkshire, joins the team in York having successfully overseen the completion of the new Borders Railway in Scotland as regional director. Prior to that he worked in a number of roles at Network Rail, including programme director on Crossrail and before that as project director for the European Train Control System and Traffic Management.

Notes to editors

• The ‘London North Eastern and East Midlands route’ includes the North East, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the East Midlands, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and covers over 2,000 miles of track.
• The East Coast Main Line is 393-miles long and runs between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh. The Midland Main Line is around 160 miles long runs between London St Pancras and Sheffield
• 180 million passengers a year use the route to commute to major cities like Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Newcastle, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and London, while leisure travellers visit York, the coastal towns of Lincolnshire and the north east.
• The route covers 2,000 miles, includes 2,190 level crossings, has nearly 12,000 bridges and structures and 382 stations. It is served by more than 6,000 dedicated staff.
• Around 58m tonnes of freight are transported on our railway every year – more than 20 per cent of all the UK freight tonnage moved by rail starts or ends in Immingham docks and 70 per cent of coal for UK power stations travels on our route.