Central route director to put passengers first in West Midlands and Chiltern areas

Dave Penney has joined Network Rail’s North West and Central (NW&C) region as the new Central route director.

He joins from Chiltern Railways, the train company, where he was managing director for the last four years.

Dave brings more than 20 years’ industry experience to his new role. He will be responsible for the rail network across Birmingham and the West Midlands and the vital rail link into London Marylebone.

The Central route also covers the railway between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, on to Stafford as well as the key Birmingham New Street station rail hub.

His new role is the latest step in devolution at Network Rail which is focused on bringing key operational decision-making closer to the passengers and communities which rely on the railway.

Dave Penney, Central route director, said: “I have joined Network Rail at a challenging time. Passengers expect and deserve a railway they can rely on and I am committed to working with all our partners to help deliver this.

“Performance on the Central route has not been good enough, and I will be using all my experience to improve what we do for passengers and freight users to help provide a better service.”

Tim Shoveller, managing director for the NW&C region, said: “Dave’s priority and experience is in service delivery for passengers. That is our focus – consistently reliable train services for passengers and our freight customers.”

More details on the three routes in the North West & Central region can be found at www.networkrail.co.uk/north-west-and-central.

For more information on Network Rail’s new regional structure, visit www.networkrail.co.uk/our-regions.

Photo credit: Network Rail

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