Welcome, Lee Wasnidge, Matt Beeton & Adrian Thompson

January 27, 2009

Northern Rail yesterday announced three appointments to its team of directors. All three of these people will have important responsibilities that will affect the experience of passengers on Northern Rail.

First up are Lee Wasnidge & Matt Beeton who will have responsibility for the operation of train services and stations. They will lead on relationships with Northern’s key stakeholders including GMPTE, Merseytravel, Nexus and local transport authorities - presumably this also includes the Rail Passenger Committees - those bodies charged with ensuring passengers voices are heard by the railways.

Lee Wasnidge - Area Director West (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and Derbyshire)

Matt Beeton - Area Director North (North East, Lancashire and Cumbria)

Finally, Adrian Thompson has been appointed Human Resources and Change Director and will lead the company on all people management issues including employee relations. Given the staff problems that seem to be quootd as the cause of many late/cancelled trains and the changes that are needed in customer service ethos, this is a role wih plenty of challenge.

Lee’s background is logistics and managing supply chains for companies including Iceland Foods, Asda and PepsiCo where he was General Manager, Northern Logistics.

Matt’s background is Sales and Marketing Director for Bombardier. Prior to that he was Sales Director for the aerospace division of Rolls Royce.

Adrian’s background is in HR, working in senior roles for companies and organisations in the public and private sector including Express Dairies, British Coal and Arla Foods plc where he was Group HR Director.

As a Northern Rail passenger, I’d like to welcome Lee, Matt and Adrian onboard and express the hope that with their capable assistance, Northern Rail will make genuine headway in addressing the real problems that real passengers are enduring on a daily basis as they use their trains.

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