MTR Elizabeth line’s new Managing Director

Welcome back to MTREL!

Thanks! It’s great to be here.

You were previously Performance and Planning Director before moving to MTR UK. Have you been watching our progress?

Absolutely. The achievements in opening the Elizabeth line and delivering through-running is truly monumental and have rightly attracted praise and recognition in the UK and globally.

As our new MD, what will you be focusing on first?

I’ll be getting to know the people in our organisation and listening to people’s ideas about how we make our railway even better.

Last week, we marked 100 million passenger journeys on the Elizabeth line. Did you imagine we would get to this point so quickly?

It was all doom and gloom during the height of the pandemic and people were questioning whether passengers would return to rail. While I never doubted the potential of the Elizabeth line, the rate of growth, which can be seen on our busy trains, has certainly gone beyond my expectation from when we opened the central section back in May last year.

What impresses you most about the MTREL team?

The sheer energy, drive and determination to deliver our goals.

You’ve worked in the industry for more than 30 years. Did you choose rail, or did rail choose you?

I always had an interest in transport and luckily I found an opportunity to undertake work experience at my local station (Reading) while still at school. From this I secured a weekend part-time job in the telephone enquiry bureau. This was my way into the industry, and I’ve never looked back.

If you weren’t working in rail, what would you be doing?

I would like to think I would be doing something linked to one (or more!) of my hobbies, so a mix of travelling, mountain biking and hiking.

If you were to jump on a train tomorrow, where would you go and why?

Most definitely a sleeper train up to Scotland (Fort William or Inverness). The scenery is amazing.