Who has been the best and worst MDs and CEOs of TOCs?

[swt class 450]

Who do you think have been the best and worst MDs and CEOs of TOCs and why? I personally thought that Stewart Palmer (South West Trains) and Elaine Holt (First Capital Connect) both seemed to do a fairly good job. As for the worst i dont think Charles Horton (GTR) has done a very good job.

 

[AlterEgo]

Based on what criteria?

 

[pdeaves]

As for the worst i dont think Charles Horton (GTR) has done a very good job.

I don't think he covered himself in glory at Southeastern either (or was it his predecessor there that I'm thinking of?).

 

[HLE]

Adrian Shooter at Chiltern gets a lot of respect up here

 

[Simon11]

Sir Richard Branson

Just kidding as he was never a MD or CEO, but I'm sure that would be the view of non rail people!

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Chris Green! Lots of time for that guy!
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Vernon Barker did an alright job of TPE IMHO....

 

[Clansman]

Phil Verster probably the worst we've had up here

 

[Agent_c]

No love for Sir Toppam Hatt? Runs the best railway in the system.

 

[lincolnshire]

Adrian Shooter at Chiltern gets a lot of respect up here

He was an ex B.R man at one time running Red Star Parcels. So at least he did know something about how the railways worked.
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Chris Green! Lots of time for that guy!
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Vernon Barker did an alright job of TPE IMHO....

Yet another ex B.R man who knows how the railways work its just a pity about the red bit thing. he might have been better known in the outside world if he had not been tied a red trainset.

 

[507021]

I think Alex Hynes has done a good job at Northern, as well as Northern Rail.

No love for Sir Toppam Hatt? Runs the best railway in the system.

 

[lincolnshire]

Phil Verster probably the worst we've had up here

Well he,s a Network Rail man who came with a lot of experience from Irish Railways. Was he then man responsible for the Network Rails collection of white boards then through one of his experts from outside.

He is stlll a Network Rail man indirectly isn,t he?

The man at Northern must be some good as he went from the old Northern ( Abellio etc ) to the new Northern ( Arriva ) something thats hardly happens.
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No love for Sir Toppam Hatt? Runs the best railway in the system.

Never any staff problems there on that railway one or two accidents and derailments and never any inquires from the Rail Inspectorate. No problems with TOC,s and FOC,s and not a delay attribution clerk in sight.

What a well run railway by Sir Topham Hatt pity they all were not like it.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

C E W Green in my book as Head of NSE.

Another excellent guy to work with (in my book anyway) was Chris Gibb when at Wales and West / Wales and Borders.

 

[Lemmy99uk]

I think Alex Hynes has done a good job at Northern, as well as Northern Rail.

I'll second that, considering the mess he inherited.

 

[AlterEgo]

No love for Sir Toppam Hatt? Runs the best railway in the system.

Unfortunately Sodor seems to be in a financial mess.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkna...conomics-of-the-island-of-sodor/#323cc64a72e9

 

[KTHV]

Any thoughts on Steve Banaghan (LM's first MD)?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I got the impression Heidi Mottram was liked at Northern (or certainly compared to those who followed her...)

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Chris Garnett of GNER was another absolute gentleman to work with

 

[bramling]

Who do you think have been the best and worst MDs and CEOs of TOCs and why? I personally thought that Stewart Palmer (South West Trains) and Elaine Holt (First Capital Connect) both seemed to do a fairly good job. As for the worst i dont think Charles Horton (GTR) has done a very good job.

Charles Horton got to be one of the worst. Never heard a good word said about him, and seems to have presided over some poor operations.

London Underground has been pretty negative since Tim O'Toole left. No matter how charitable I try to be, I really, really, really can't make myself like or have any respect for Mike Brown.

 

[swt class 450]

Ive never heard anything good said about Charles Horton either. Looking at Charles Horton linkedin page he has been in charge of Connex then Southeastern then GTR. And these are probably the top three worst TOCs in history.

 

[janb]

Had a favourable impression of Heidi Mottram and Vernon Barker as well. Was it Ian Bevan that came after Heidi? Things seem to go noticeably downhill. Jury still out on Alex Hynes, he makes a positive public impression and the big picture/grand plans, but there isn't enough emphasis on attention to detail and delivering quality day to day on the fundamentals for my liking. Night and day compared to TPE.

 

[43096]

Chris Garnett of GNER was another absolute gentleman to work with

Over-rated in my view - too full of his own self importance and operational performance at GNER was very, very average. I always got the impression it was about appearances rather than getting the railway running correctly.

Really poor MDs in my view were Alison Forster at FGW and Alan Wilson at Midland Mainline, both of who presided over appalling deterioration in service.

On the flip side Mark Hopwood has done a decent job with FGW/GWR, David Horne likewise with EMT and VTEC and Tim Shoveller when he was with both EMT and SWT got those companies performing well.

There is of course plenty that we don't see as they are running a business so have full responsibility for everything that goes on, including health & safety, people and financial performance, as well as all the things we do see like operational performance.

 

[Andrew1395]

Bob Breakwell at GER and Ken Bird at c2c both knew how to run a railway

 

[TheEdge]

Half of this thread is pointless, the worst MD is/was/forever will be Charles Horton. No fathomable understanding of how he originally became an MD and how he became one again after Connex...

As to best I've heard that Tim Clarke of Anglia was meant to be fairly well liked. Personally I quite liked Ruud Hacket on AGA.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Cant always blame the top. Often its the middle management that prove to be hapless.

 

[Sadsmileyface]

Cant always blame the top. Often its the middle management that prove to be hapless.

There's garbage at every level.

The railway makes an astounding number of really questionable recruitment decisions which often stick around for twenty years. There's still good ones but from my observation, they're outnumbered.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I suspect CH has some pretty stiff competition from the infamous Geoff Harasses-Mee...

 

[DarloRich]

how are we supposed to judge this? Anecdotal evidence on who was a decent chap? Who turned the biggest profit? Who had the least tribunal claims? Who ran the most trians on time? Who is in the papers the most? etc etc

I have never worked for any of them so couldn't say!

 

[link1driver]

Steve Montgemerie was ok at First Scotrail.

 

[Sleepy]

Andy Cooper got some stick at Anglia Railways when Supersavers were withdrawn.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I got the impression Heidi Mottram was liked at Northern

I think it, as always, depends who you ask. I never got the impression everyone was sad to see her go to fill her boots with lucre at Northumbrian Water. And fill her boots she has: a £1m bonus last year whilst she closed the final salary pension scheme for the plebs and whacked water rates up dramatically.

how are we supposed to judge this?

Well quite.

As a general rule, the names mentioned here seem to be the ones who are best at self publicity (Alex Hynes, I'm looking at you) rather than anything to do with solid achievements. But then the CEO's role has always been about egotistical willy-waving and claiming personal glory for group achievements...