Skanska managing director James Richardson has been appointed as the new managing director of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.
Network Rail’s Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is an £11 billion railway electrification scheme to improve rail links for people across the north of England.
Richardson currently serves as managing director of the Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture delivering the HS2 London tunnels.
He has held posts as infrastructure MD and rail sector director with experience working in the rail, road and energy industries on programmes including HS1, M25DBFO, Crossrail, Northern Hub, Wessex Capacity Alliance and Thameslink.
James will take up his post on TRU in the new year.
Earlier this year, TRU awarded contracts of close to £3 billion with the West and East alliances.
In September, BAM and Amey secured a £800 million contract to deliver a range of multi-disciplinary railway upgrades between Huddersfield and Leeds, as a part of the wider £2 billion TRUWest project.
Passengers can now use the first electric train service operating between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge.
The Transpennine Route Upgrade employs 5000 people and is fully mobilised with 70 worksites across 70 miles, from York to Manchester.
The programme has also invested £500 million with local businesses so far and is recruiting sustainably with 85 per cent of the team living within 40 miles of the scheme.
It comes after the planned HS2 route between Birmingham and Manchester was scrapped by the previous government last October, which promised to redirect the money to Network North and a Midlands Rail Hub.
Richardson said: “Leading this ambitious infrastructure programme of national importance is a huge source of pride for me. It will benefit millions of people by improving the connectivity between towns and cities.
“TRU is making fantastic progress and already demonstrating how complex infrastructure can be delivered safely and efficiently. I can’t wait to get started working with such talented teams and individuals in order to see that continue to develop.”
Rob McIntosh, Network Rail’s North West and Central Managing Director added: “Given the scale of our works – one of the biggest programmes in Europe and carried out on a live railway – I am really happy we’ve appointed a very capable leader who can manage our unique challenges and lead TRU to continued success.”
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