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RDG Board and its members

This page contains details of the RDG Board, whose members are drawn from the train operators' owning groups, Network Rail and HS2.

For a full list of our members - the owning groups, passenger and freight train operators, and infrastructure companies - please see the Passenger, freight and track services page.

You may also be interested in the minutes of the most recent RDG Board meeting.
David Brown

David Brown

MANAGING DIRECTOR: UK TRAINS, ARRIVA
CHAIR OF THE RDG

David joined Arriva in September 2017 as Managing Director of Arriva Rail North and then as Arriva’s Group Communications Director before being appointed Managing Director UK Trains in October 2020. In this role, he is responsible for the leadership and development of Arriva’s UK rail businesses

Prior to joining Arriva, David was Chief Executive of Transport for the North, leading the development of the Northern Transport Strategy as part of the Northern Powerhouse. He has also had roles as Chief Executive at Merseytravel and Director General of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.

David became Chair of Rail Delivery Group in December 2023.

Andrew Haines

Andrew Haines

CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NETWORK RAIL
DEPUTY CHAIR OF THE RDG

Andrew Haines OBE was appointed CEO of Network Rail in May 2018.

Andrew was previously a Board Member and Chief Executive of the CAA from August 2009 and for a further 5 years in August 2012. Prior to this he had a wide-ranging career in the rail industry, as Managing Director of South West Trains, and then as Managing Director of the Rail Division for First Group plc. Andrew received the OBE in 2016, for services to transport.

Dominic Booth

Dominic Booth

Chief Executive Officer, Transport UK Group

Dominic has a 36 year career in UK public transport, spanning both public and private sector periods. During his career, Dominic has been Managing Director of 6 UK rail companies and has been Chairman of 12 UK TOCs. Prior to forming Transport UK Group, Dominic worked for NS, British Rail, Connex, Prism Rail and National Express.

Robin Gisby

Robin Gisby

CHAIRMAN, LONDON NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF DFT OLR HOLDINGS LTD

As Managing Director, Network Operations, Robin was a member of the main Board of Network Rail until February 2015. He co-chaired the initial alliance with South West Trains and was also a member of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Transport Board.

Jake Kelly

Jake Kelly

Group Director for System Operator, Network Rail

Jake has worked in the rail industry for many years and held numerous operational, commercial, strategic and project delivery roles – in both the public and private sectors.

He joined Network Rail in October 2019 as Passenger Director and before that, he was the managing director of East Midlands Trains.

Steve Montgomery

Steve Montgomery

MANAGING DIRECTOR, FIRST RAIL

Steve's career in the railway industry spans almost 30 years, starting his working life with British Rail. He held various senior posts before becoming Operations and Safety Director at ScotRail, coinciding with FirstGroup taking over the franchise in 2004. He was appointed Managing Director of First ScotRail in 2009.

Under his leadership, First ScotRail achieved the highest ever levels of customer satisfaction and punctuality in the franchise's history.

Steve Murphy

Steve Murphy

CEO, MTR UK

Steve Murphy is the Chief Executive Officer of MTR UK. Steve’s remit includes responsibility for all rail, infrastructure and business development activities in the UK.

Steve has almost 30 years of rail industry experience including senior postings at Arriva Group, London Overground Rail Operations and Chiltern Railways. He became Managing Director of MTR Elizabeth Line in 2014.

Ernesto Sicilia

Ernesto Sicilia

CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, TRENITALIA UK

Ernesto has been Managing Director of Trenitalia UK Ltd since October 2016, and led the company’s entry into the UK rail market when it acquired Essex train operator c2c in February 2017.

Ernesto has worked for Ferrovie dello Stato Group, owning group of Trenitalia, since 2001 in a variety of strategy roles, including five years as the business’s Chief Strategy Officer. He has also been on the board of directors of Thello, Trenitalia’s French‐Italian operation, since the company’s inception in 2011.

Jacqueline Starr

Jacqueline Starr

CHIEF EXECUTIVE, RDG

Jacqueline’s career spans over 30 years and she has experience in Banking (Lloyds & Barclays), Telecoms (Orange, France Telecom & O2) and Rail. Jacqueline has majored in Customer Experience and through a variety of roles, sought to ensure organisations and industries put the customer at the very heart of what they do.

She joined the rail industry in 2015 as Managing Director of Customer Experience before progressing to Chief Operating Officer. She was appointed Chief Executive of RDG in December 2020.

Jacqueline Starr

Patrick Verwer

GO AHEAD

Patrick oversees UK rail strategy for Go-Ahead Group, alongside his role as Chief Executive Officer of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), Britain’s largest rail network.

Before taking up the position of CEO at GTR in July 2018, Patrick was Managing Director of London Midland between January 2012 and December 2017. Before that he worked in the transport industry in the UK and Europe, specialising in rail and airport services. He first came to the UK in 2003 as Managing Director of Merseyrail. Born and educated in the Netherlands, Patrick started his career in the Rotterdam Police Force rising to senior officer level.

Peter Strachan

Peter Strachan

CHAIRMAN: UK RAIL, SERCO

Before joining UK Rail, Peter was the Managing Director of Serco Caledonian Sleeper, following an extensive career in rail and transport, including managing a number of UK train operating companies, Network Rail routes and in the Department for Transport.

In Australia, Peter led train and tram businesses in Melbourne, bus companies in Perth and Brisbane, and was the Chief Executive of TransLink, the public transport authority in Queensland.

In this section

Notes

Representatives of the following companies attend RDG Board meetings as participating, but non-voting, members:

  • Mitsui & Co
  • Scotrail
  • Transport for Wales