Tuesday 3 May 2011
SIMPSON APPOINTED ROUTE MD AS NEW STRUCTURE GOES LIVE
- Region & Route:
- Scotland’s Railway: Scotland
David Simpson has been appointed as Network Rail’s new route managing director for Scotland as part of a comprehensive restructuring of the company’s operations.
Network Rail is currently changing its structure and business to better align itself to the needs of both its customers and passengers by creating a number of new, powerful, devolved business units run by managing directors.
The Scotland route is one of the first devolved businesses to begin operation with the new structure going live today (May 3), under the direction of David Simpson, previously the company’s route director for Scotland.
Under the new structure, each new route managing director will in effect be running their own infrastructure railway business with significant annual turnover and resources – around 3,000 employees and a budget of £500m a year in Scotland.
The new route managing director will be accountable for the day-to-day management of all activities in the route, including:
- safety
- all customer service matters
- asset management outputs and spend
- operations
- planning and delivering maintenance
- delivery of some renewals and enhancements.
David Simpson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland, said: “This is a positive step for the railway which will make Network Rail quicker and more responsive to deal with and help reduce costs.
“These changes have been introduced in consultation with our industry partners and will allow us to continue to improve the service we offer our customers and the public.
“With more than 80 million passenger journeys and nearly 14 million tons of freight on our railway in Scotland annually, the industry is as vital as ever to the country’s economic and social development.
“The growing popularity of rail travel will see passenger numbers on some Scottish routes more than double over the next two decades and we are committed to enhancing the network to provide the best possible service for the travelling public. The changes introduced today will help us to deliver on that commitment.”
Notes to editors
Notes to editors:
- A route is a geographical operational unit. At the moment the country has nine of these (with a tenth one to be created in Wales) with a route director managing the day to day operation of the railway there.
- Network Rail's Wessex route also devolves today. The route matches the lines operated by South West Trains out of Waterloo covering parts of south west London, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire and Dorset.
- These changes will devolve more power, responsibility and accountability onto the new business units which include transferring responsibility from the centre to the new role of route managing director, including:
o safety
o all customer service matters
o asset management outputs and spend
o operations
o planning and delivering maintenance
o delivery of some renewals and enhancements.
- The devolved businesses will be empowered to innovate within a framework which maintains the company’s focus on making the most of network benefits, minimising whole-life costs, and providing a seamless service for all customers and rail users.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - Scotland
0141 555 4109
mediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
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