Arriva appoints management team to lead new Northern franchise

Arriva has announced nine senior appointments to the management team that will lead the new Northern rail franchise from 1 April.

Led by Alex Hynes, who was appointed by Arriva as managing director designate in January, the appointments are spread across finance, operational, people and customer, and regional leadership roles.

Rob Phillips has been appointed as finance director of Northern. Rob held the same position at Arriva Trains Wales where he was also part of the senior management team.

Richard Allan, currently Northern’s commercial director, has been appointed as the  franchise’s new customer and people experience director with colleague Rob Warnes taking up a new role as performance and planning director.

Northern’s service delivery director, Alan Chaplin, becomes programme director with Andrea Jacobs continuing to lead the safety and environment team.

Four regional director appointments have also been announced by Arriva.

Sharon Keith, currently managing director for the Arriva-operated Tyne & Wear Metro, becomes a regional director, alongside Liam Sumpter who joins Northern from Network Rail.

Paul Barnfield, currently operations director for Northern, has also been appointed to a regional director post with Mike Paterson joining from PA Consulting to take up the fourth regional role.

Chris Burchell, managing director of Arriva UK Trains, said: “I am delighted that we are appointing an outstanding management team for the new Northern franchise.

“Each of the nine appointments have superb credentials and I am confident are the best team, alongside Alex, to lead Northern as we prepare to provide customers with the biggest step-change in quality for a generation.”

Arriva will make a further announcement in due course regarding the remaining appointment as it prepares for the commencement of the new nine-year franchise on 1 April.

Over the term of the franchise Arriva will introduce 281 brand new carriages, improved connections through a new inter-urban Northern Connect network, and a 37 per cent increase in capacity at peak times. Arriva has also committed to providing 2,000 extra services each week and promised a multi-million pound investment in ticketing and station improvements for customers.