RDG Board
and its members
Who Makes Up the RDG Board?
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 latest meetings minutes.
Jeremy Westlake
Jeremy Westlake has served as Chief Financial Officer at Network Rail since 2016. Prior to this, he held senior finance, operational and supply chain roles over 14 years at Rolls-Royce, based in both the UK and the United States. In 2013, he joined Alstom Transport as SVP Finance, where he played a key role in driving international growth through acquisitions and operational improvements.
Alex Hynes
Alex is a highly experienced transport leader with over 25 years in the rail industry. He most recently served as Director General, Rail Services Group at the Department for Transport. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of Scotland’s Railway, leading delivery through the ScotRail Alliance partnership between ScotRail Trains Ltd and Network Rail Scotland.
Alex also led the Northern franchise as Managing Director, achieving record customer satisfaction and employee engagement, and has held senior commercial and strategic roles across regulation and rail operations throughout his career.
Dominic Booth
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.
Amanda Furlong
Amanda has led within the UK rail industry for over two decades and was appointed Managing Director of Arriva UK Trains in December 2024, having previously served as Deputy Managing Director and Financial & Commercial Director.
With extensive experience across franchising, commercial strategy and growth, she has overseen the strategic direction of the UK Trains division — building strong partnerships with client bodies and passenger transport authorities while driving sustainable, profitable performance across rail operations.
Hannah Ross
Hannah is a qualified solicitor with significant leadership experience across transport and major infrastructure projects. She previously served as Senior Responsible Officer for Phase 2 of the Edinburgh Trams to Newhaven project at the City of Edinburgh Council, before moving into senior major projects leadership roles.
She is now Chief Executive and Accountable Officer of Scottish Rail Holdings Limited, and Chair of ScotRail Trains and Caledonian Sleeper. Hannah provides strategic leadership across the group, working closely with Transport Scotland to ensure delivery of its Framework and Grant Agreements while strengthening senior stakeholder relationships across the rail sector.
Jake Kelly
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'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.
James Price
James has served as Chief Executive Officer of Transport for Wales since January 2018, having previously acted as Chair during its start-up phase.
With a background in civil engineering and as a professional economist, he has held senior leadership roles across the Welsh and UK Governments, including overseeing infrastructure delivery for Wales since 2007.
James is responsible for the day-to-day operations and stewardship of public funds at TfW, and also serves as Chair of Transport for Wales Rail Ltd and Director of Pullman Rail Ltd.
Patrick Verwer
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
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.
Representatives of the following companies attend RDG Board meetings as participating, but non-voting, members:
- Mitsui & Co
- Scotrail
- Transport for Wales