Julian Edwards has been named as the new managing director of West Midlands Trains (WMT). Julian has been a director of WMT since 2017 – and more recently the MD of East Midlands Railway during the successful mobilisation and launch of the new franchise. The current MD of West Midlands Trains, Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, will work alongside Julian until Easter to ensure a smooth transition.
After 30 years in the rail industry, 17 of them at director level, Jan decided last year he would take a career break before moving onto new ventures.
Commenting on his appointment, Julian Edwards said “This is an exciting time to be joining WMT as passengers will start to see the benefits of our £1 billion investment programme. The last six months has been very difficult for West Midlands Trains. I would like to thank Jan for addressing many of the issues, including settling the dispute with the RMT, delivering a 3% discount for season ticket holders, introducing more rolling stock in December and the recent timetable changes that are already making a positive impact on train performance.
“There is still much to do. Work is well advanced on further performance improvements, the May 2020 timetable, additional compensation for non-season ticket holders and the roll out of two brand new train fleets starting in the second half of this year. The introduction of our new trains combined with the investment programme in stations and customer services and the much needed changes to timetables in 2020 gives us the opportunity, to have a railway the people of West Midlands Trains and our customers can be proud of.”
Julian has over 20 years senior rail industry experience including seven years as finance director with WMT’s predecessors, Central Trains and London Midland.
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