1996-06-06 Final BR freight business to be sold (Department of Transport)

1996-06-01 Sir George Young welcomes formal handover of Eurostar to London and Continental Railways (Department of Transport)

1996-05-29 Freightliner sold as railfreight revolution nears completion (Department of Transport)

_______________________________________________________________

date 27 August 1996
source Department of Transport
type Press release

note 271

Transport Secretary Sir George Young today announced that, with the
approval of the Prime Minister, he had appointed Mr John O'Brien to
succeed Mr Roger Salmon as Director of Passenger Rail Franchising
("Franchising Director"). Mr O'Brien, who is at present Chief
Operating Officer at the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising
(OPRAF), will take over from Mr Salmon in the autumn. The appointment
is for three years.

Welcoming the appointment, Sir George Young said:

"I am delighted that John O'Brien is to succeed Roger Salmon. He
has already made a significant contribution to the work of OPRAF and
to the progress which we have made with the franchising programme. I
look forward to working closely with him as we complete the
programme."

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. John O'Brien qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur
Andersen in 1976. Following jobs in the property and construction
industry he spent eleven years with Granada Group from 1981 to 1992.
Mr O'Brien held a variety of senior financial and commercial
positions, which involved the development of new business areas and
the revitalisation of longer established operations. He ultimately
became Chairman of one of Granada's then five divisions, the
Commercial and Overseas Rental Division, and was a member of the
Management Board for the entire Group.

2. Since then, Mr O'Brien has worked with a number of
organisations, including the Spastics Society at the time of its
relaunch as SCOPE, and as part of the London Christian Radio team
which successfully bid for one of London's radio licences. Mr
O'Brien joined OPRAF in October 1995 and as Chief Operating Officer
he has been responsible for the delivery of the franchising programme
and the establishment of OPRAF's monitoring and management programme.

3. Mr O'Brien is 44 and married with three children. He is active
in his local church and Chairman of the trustees of the CARE Trust.
He is a member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the
Chartered Institute of Marketing.

4. John O'Brien was selected as the result of an open competition
organised with the help of recruitment consultants and emerged as the
successor to Roger Salmon from a field of over 50 potential
candidates.

5. Roger Salmon announced in April this year that he would be
leaving OPRAF in the autumn of this year.

INTERNET ADDRESS FOR DOT PRESS NOTICES:
http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/GDT/GDT.html

Railhub Archive ::: 1996-08-27 DoT-001