Rail Delivery Group

Martin Griffiths appointed as Chairman of the Rail Delivery Group
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date 19 December 2013
source Rail Delivery Group
type Press release

Martin Griffiths, Stagecoach Group chief executive, has been appointed as chairman of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which speaks on behalf oh the rail industry.

Following his appointment by RDG directors at a meeting last night, he commences his new role with immediate effect.

Mr Griffiths succeeds previous chairman Tim O’Toole, chief executive of FirstGroup, who has been RDG chairman since the group was founded in May 2011.

Martin Griffiths said: “This is an important time for the future of the country's rail network. There are big challenges around costs and capacity, but also big opportunities for the whole country from a successful railway in helping drive economic growth.

"The rail industry, Government and other key stakeholders have a shared responsibility to deliver a better railway for Britain and I would like to thank Tim for the leadership he has shown over the past two-and-a-half years. The RDG, with its expanded and strengthened executive team, will be working even harder to champion improved services for both passengers and freight customers. At the same time, we will be at the heart of the push for better value throughout the industry for both rail users and taxpayers."

Tim O'Toole said: “Having met the challenge laid down in the McNulty Study by delivering work that is proving critical to achieving the industry savings for the next control period, we have recently achieved a new level of industry cooperation by combining resources from Network Rail, ATOC and the freight community to create a unified voice for the industry in the RDG.

“As Martin becomes the next chairman of the RDG, we all want to acknowledge Graham Smith's critical role in achieving this progress."

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The appointment was put forward to RDG directors by the RDG nominations committee and ratified at a meeting held on 18 December.

2. The RDG has assumed responsibility for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the rail industry, combining the Association of Train Operating Companies’ communications and policy functions with complementary resources from Network Rail and support from other RDG members to operate for the RDG as a whole.

3. Martin Griffiths’ biography

Appointed to the Stagecoach Board in 2000, he was appointed as Chief Executive of the company on 1 May 2013.
Appointments: Chairman of Rail Delivery Group, Virgin Rail Group Holdings Limited (Co-Chairman), AG Barr plc (Non-Executive Director).
Previous experience: A Chartered accountant, Martin Griffiths is a former Chairman of the Group of Scottish Finance Directors and a former Director of Troy Income & Growth Trust plc, Trainline Holdings Limited, RoadKing Infrastructure (HK) Limited, Citybus (HK) Limited. He is also a former Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Robert Walters plc and was young Scottish Finance Director of the year in 2004 and was a director of Rail Delivery Group Limited.

Railhub Archive ::: 2013-12-19 RDG-001