James Burt joins Southern
15 Sep 2009
James Burt has been appointed as the new Service Delivery Director for Southern Railways.
James, 48, joins the company from First Great Western, where he is currently the Customer Service Director. Says Mr Burt, ‘This is a great time to be joining the successful team at Southern, with a new franchise and in a newly created role. Apart from being incredibly excited by the challenge, I am confident that I can build on the current success and clearly focus on enhancing the company’s quality of service delivery to its passengers. My goal will be to ensure that we get every aspect of the journey right for passengers.'
James Burt joined the rail industry in 1983 as a graduate management trainee and was employed in a number of roles for British Rail during his early career. In 1991 he was appointed as Marketing Planning Manager for South Eastern Trains, where he was responsible for marketing, train planning and income forecasting.
He became Retail Operations Manager at South Eastern in 1993 and subsequently joined Connex South Eastern. He spent 18 months from January 1998 as the Commercial Manager for Kent Link Metro services for the same company.
James joined SWT in 1999 as General Manager, Woking Division, which put him in charge of train services from Wimbledon to Portsmouth and the Guildford New Line. Within a year he had moved across to the General Manager role for SWT’s London West-Division.
In 2001 James was promoted to Retail Director for SWT and was responsible for developing a comprehensive retail strategy that resulted in significant improvements to the passenger experience across a wide range of station services.
A bigger challenge was presented in 2004 when he was appointed Customer Service Director, with responsibilities for developing and delivering on customer service, retailing and marketing strategies. James moved into the role of Operations Director at SWT in 2006 and also became the company’s Deputy Managing Director.
As the Operations Director he was responsible for over 2000 drivers and guards, as well as ensuring improved train performance and operational standards. In 2008 James was appointed to his current role at First Great Western, where he was tasked with delivering a turnaround customer service strategy and to provide essential leadership to the company’s frontline staff and support services.
James will join Southern soon after the new franchise commences on 20 September 2009. In his spare time James enjoys gardening, music and reading.