Curley Coup for First

20 Oct 2004

Rail star John Curley has joined First Group as Infrastructure Director. John joins from Network Rail where he was widely credited with turning around performance across the south west. The job of Infrastructure Director has been newly created by Dean Finch, First’s Finance Director. Says Dean, ‘John is going to be a major asset to First and we will be using his wealth of experience to further improve our services for millions of customers. His knowledge of the infrastructure, its issues, processes and how it can be developed for the benefit of customers is vital. John has proved that he can introduce fundamental changes which can turn around performance and we will be building on that. His appointment is particularly valuable as we move forward with our bids to expand our franchise portfolio.’ Curley is already well acquainted with First Great Western, and successor franchise First Great Western Link. He helped establish the Great Western Joint Board, the first of what is now a successful national initiative. ‘We have shown that joint working really can make a difference,’ says John. ‘Through train operators, Network Rail and other industry partners working together, initiatives can be developed which have a real impact on performance and customer service. I want to build on what has already been achieved and raise awareness of how future development can support future growth.’ It will be frustrating for the long term career railwayman not to have control over signalling and track. John joined British Rail in 1979. He helped set up Railtrack and ran Great Western region from June 2001.

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