Network
Rail
has
appointed
Liam
Sumpter
as
managing
director
for
Network
Rail
in
Scotland
on
a
two-year
secondment,
following
the
news
that
Alex
Hynes
is
joining
the
Department
for
Transport,
where
he
is
becoming
director
general
rail
services,
again
for
two
years.

Liam
starts
work
on
Monday.
Meanwhile,
Scottish
Rail
Holdings
has
announced
that
ScotRail’s
chief
operating
officer
Joanne
Maguire
has
been
appointed
interim
managing
director
at
the
operator.

She
said:
‘Everyone
at
ScotRail
continues
to
work
hard
to
increase
passenger
numbers,
grow
revenue,
and
deliver
value
for
money
for
the
taxpayer.
I
am
looking
forward
to
continuing
to
play
my
part.’

Liam
has
22
years
of
railway
experience,
having
joined
Railtrack
in
2002,
at
a
time
when
the
failed
company’s
activities
were
in
the
process
of
being
transferred
to
newly-created
Network
Rail.

He
was
appointed
as
area
director
for
the
West
Midlands
&
Chilterns
in
2013,
and
then
joined
Arriva
Rail
North
as
regional
director
for
three
years,
before
returning
to
Network
Rail
as
chief
operating
officer
and
most
recently
route
director
for
Scotland.

He
said
he
was
‘delighted’
with
his
new
opportunity.
He
continued:
‘Working
as
route
director
for
the
past
five
years
has
been
deeply
rewarding.
We
have
a
great
team
here
in
Scotland,
and
I
am
confident
that
together,
we
can
continue
to
fulfil
our
main
objective
to
run
a
reliable
and
safe
railway.

Chief
executive
Andrew
Haines
added:
‘As
we
enter
our
new
five-year
funding
period,
Scotland’s
Railway
will
face
many
challenges
and
opportunities
and
I
have
every
confidence
that
Liam
will
continue
delivering
on
our
commitments
on
train
service
performance,
safety,
climate
action
and
affordability
to
the
Scottish
Government,
our
partners,
customers
and
our
staff.

‘Scotland’s
Railway
is
already
showing
the
rest
of
the
UK
the
benefits
of
integrating
track
and
train
and
I
look
forward
to
working
with
ScotRail,
Scottish
Rail
Holdings
and
Transport
Scotland
to
strengthen
our
alliance
and
deliver
an
even
better
service.’

ScotRail
chairman
and
Scottish
Rail
Holdings
chief
executive
David
Lowrie
said:
‘Joanne
Maguire
has
been
an
outstanding
leader
of
ScotRail
over
the
past
two
years
and
I
am
pleased
that
she
has
accepted
the
role
of
interim
managing
director.
I
know
she
will
continue
to
work
with
the
team
to
build
on
our
recent
successes,
including
strong
passenger
growth,
customer
satisfaction,
and
punctuality.

‘We
remain
fully
committed
to
the
Alliance
Agreement,
which
has
delivered
close
collaborative
working
between
ScotRail
and
Network
Rail
Scotland.’