First Chair of GBR named as Sir John Kingman

[sh24]

If he is savvy he will recognise that the way to reduce subsidy is to grow revenue primarily alongside more rigorous cost controls.

Working in industry equips you with that thinking. Revenue cures all ills!

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Money man as chair and hopefully a railway man as CEO and the rest a good balance. Could be a sensible balanced move.

Alex Hynes or Tim Shoveller as CEO? Would look decent.

 

[172007]

Working in industry equips you with that thinking. Revenue cures all ills!

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Alex Hynes or Tim Shoveller as CEO? Would look decent.

Yes Hynes and Shoveller are on my list with preference for Shoveller.

I have just checked Hynes work history and he left Go-Ahead Group a considerable number of years before the Deloitte accounting issue happened. It was nagging in my head so checked and no involvment.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

If he is savvy he will recognise that the way to reduce subsidy is to grow revenue primarily alongside more rigorous cost controls.

Which is exactly what I am hoping for.

 

[Rescars]

(apart from passengers!),

aka voters!

 

[whoosh]

Yes Hynes and Shoveller are on my list with preference for Shoveller.

Shoveller spent his time at East Midlands Trains seemingly letting the HR Director Margaret Kay think she was running the company. Disappointing.

 

[45Fox]

Totally unrelated as to how he might perform as chair of GBR but a bit of trivia, nonetheless.

His father, also Sir John Kingman, named HST power car 43013 'University of Bristol' in 1986.

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He follows a very mixed bag of whom only I think Johnson, Raymond and Reid 1 came from transport.

All 3 were career railwaymen, if I'm not mistaken?

 

[Swedenorer]

Totally unrelated as to how he might perform as chair of GBR but a bit of trivia, nonetheless.

His father, also Sir John Kingman, named HST power car 43013 'University of Bristol' in 1986.

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All 3 were career railwaymen, if I'm not mistaken?

In different ways yes. Raymond seems the least visible.

 

[david1212]

If he is savvy he will recognise that the way to reduce subsidy is to grow revenue primarily alongside more rigorous cost controls.

Kingman is widely trusted by the Treasury. His appointment will be partly to convince them that GBR won't be a money pit. On balance a good thing

If he can get infrastructure costs significantly down in real terms then he can work on the Treasury to fund major unfinished work e.g. Electrification to Oxford and Bristol and smaller things like increasing accessibility. Assuming agreed work is completed within budget then the Treasury would have more confidence to release funding so work that is currently cancelled / indefinitely postponed is reinstated.
Very long term HS2 to Crewe then Golborne and Sheffield / Leeds could get resurrected.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

In different ways yes. Raymond seems the least visible.

Sir Stanley Raymond was all too visible - he was fired by Barbara Castle over disagreements about the 1968 Transport Act and famously sacked Gerry Fiennes. As WR GM he had all the GWR historical artefacts in Paddington HQ chucked out as a break from the ancien régime. He was also responsible for the traffic surveys in the first Beeching Report.

On topic, I wonder if the GBR Chairman will be located in Derby in the new 'Kremlin' or he will remain in London because, 'reasons'?

 

[Swedenorer]

Maybe why he's so seldom mentioned then...

 

[Mugby]

Sir Stanley Raymond was all too visible - he was fired by Barbara Castle over disagreements about the 1968 Transport Act and famously sacked Gerry Fiennes. As WR GM he had all the GWR historical artefacts in Paddington HQ chucked out as a break from the ancien régime. He was also responsible for the traffic surveys in the first Beeching Report.

On topic, I wonder if the GBR Chairman will be located in Derby in the new 'Kremlin' or he will remain in London because, 'reasons'?

Given the location which has been chosen in Derby, he'll probably never find it!

 

[jon0844]

It certainly gives you the feeling that cost-cutting, not growth, is the name of the game...

I've always assumed this will be the aim.

If the economy was booming, perhaps I might think differently.. but in a time where cuts are being looked for everywhere, what will be cut first? Education, Policing, Healthcare, Military (this needs more funding than ever) or Transport...?

 

[Magdalia]

If the economy was booming, perhaps I might think differently.. but in a time where cuts are being looked for everywhere, what will be cut first? Education, Policing, Healthcare, Military (this needs more funding than ever) or Transport...?

You don't have long to wait for some of the answers, the budget is on 28 October.

 

[DarloRich]

The key question, surely, is what is the the chairman of GBR there to do?

 

[Bodiam]

From a historical perspective, I believe the chairmen of the Southern Railway were all from a banking background. That worked pretty well.

 

[3RDGEN]

The key question, surely, is what is the the chairman of GBR there to do?

Go in front of the media the next time there's a fatal accident and accept responsibility.

 

[sh24]

The key question, surely, is what is the the chairman of GBR there to do?

Normally a chairman's job is to run the board and play a key role in managing external stakeholders. Shareholders and finance providers in a normal business, in this case the Treasury, DfT and every other elected and political body that has a stake in what GBR does.

The CEO runs the actual business guided by the board.

Of course GBR might set up something entirely different....

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Until GBR is legally established sometime in 2027, he is not responsible for railway operation.
Essentially that's still NR/DFTO, with the still-private TOCs responsible for their existing safety cases.
Until there are agreements with devolved nations we still don't know how GBR will relate to operations in Wales and Scotland.
Kingman will not have the total GB-wide authority that the BR Chairman did.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The obvious precedent that springs to my mind is that during the last Labour administration it was widely reported at the time that the Secretary of State, Stephen Byers had instructed Strategic Rail Authority Chair, Richard Bowker, to sack his Chief Executive, Mike Grant (and then full both roles himself).

All good arms length, devolved, independent, empowered, autonomous stuff eh?