Member Article

New head of Heavy Rail for Nexus

Nexus, the Passenger Transport Executive for Tyne and Wear, has appointed its first ever head of Heavy Rail to act as the organisation’s advisor on all heavy rail matters.

James Farnell-Smith has taken up the newly created role, which is vital for Nexus as the northern PTEs continue to lobby the Government for key decisions on rail services in the north to be made at a regional level, and the importance of the refranchising process of rail routes across the north becomes clearer.

Farnell-Smith, 27, who joined Nexus as a graduate trainee in 2009, has quickly risen to managerial positions within the organisation. He previously managed the Tyne and Wear Metro’s operating contract with the German-owned operator Deutsche Bahn.

As Head of Heavy Rail he will act as a lead advisor for Nexus on a wide range of heavy rail matters.

One of the key work streams will be input into the on-going re-franchising of Northern Rail.

Nexus, along with partner organisations in the North East, is working alongside the DfT and other PTE’s to give the public a greater say in a future Northern Rail franchise, and working with the same partners to develop long term strategies to promote future heavy rail route utilisation.

Farnell-Smith will act as the Nexus advisor as the high speed rail (HS2) project moves forward annd will be the Nexus lead in the development of the North East Rail Strategy.

This project will seek to determine how heavy rail can best serve the social and economic performance of the region and how Nexus can work with partners to deliver improvements.

He said: “This is a new and exciting opportunity for me and I’m very much looking forward to it.

“I hope I can bring some focus back and work with our partners in the wider north east to really influence the decision makers and make heavy rail a much more attractive product for the passengers.”

“I will miss the day to day challenges of managing the Metro concession but I have always wanted to do something more strategic and now I have the opportunity to do so.”

Farnell-Smith studied civil and structural engineering at Newcastle University prior to joining Nexus.

Nexus Director of Rail and Infrastructure, Raymond Johnstone, said: “The new Head of Heavy Rail is a major strategic appointment for Nexus and will give us a greater voice on all heavy rail matters at a key time.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nexus .