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Friday, March 29, 2024

Alliance Rail Holdings announces new appointments to the development team

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From the left, Chris Brandon, Chris Hanks, Neil Yeowart

Alliance Rail Holdings was founded in 2009 and is seeking to introduce new rail services through its subsidiary companies, Great North Western Railway (GNWR), and Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), on the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines and across the Pennines.

Alliance Rail Holdings (Alliance) is pleased to announce three new appointments to complete its in-house development team, and also the appointment of AECOM to carry out its demand and revenue modelling work.

Chris Hanks has been appointed as Head of Development. His main role  will be to develop service plans and timetables for the new West Coast Main Line, East Coast Main Line and Pennine services. He joins Alliance from Funkwerk Information Technologies, where he was Consultancy Manager. Chris is an engineering graduate with more than 30 years’ experience in the rail industry. During his career he has managed both the development and the application of several train planning and operations systems, including TrainPlan which is in worldwide use. More recently he has specialised in providing advice and support to open access operators and was influential in securing train paths to Sunderland and Bradford for Grand Central.

Head of Systems, Chris Brandon, has joined the Company from Grand Central where he started in 2007. With a strong background in IT Chris also has extensive knowledge of the commercial requirements of new rail services, particularly fares implementation. Chris’s role is to manage all business systems and to ensure Alliance captures the economic value of services to the communities it will serve, whilst ensuring compliance with all aspects of licensing, access and ticketing.

Neil Yeowart is the new Head of Communications, having also recently worked for Grand Central where he started in 2006 as Resource Planning Manager, helping to appoint and assemble the Traincrew in preparation for the launch of train operations in 2007. Neil then successfully edited and published the critically acclaimed ‘GC Magazine’  which ran throughout 2008 and 2009. Neil’s role at Alliance is to use his knowledge of media and marketing to ensure that Alliance’s message is regularly communicated to all stakeholders.

Alliance Managing Director Ian Yeowart said of the appointments: ‘I am delighted that our new operation has attracted such experts in the disciplines required to mount a succesful open access application. Having worked with my new colleagues on the development of previous open access services, I am confident that Alliance has the right blend of enthusiasm and experience in place to ensure the development of a robust and detailed plan. Additionally I am delighted that AECOM will be carrying out our revenue demand work, having previously worked successfully with Simon Temple and his team on previous (East Coast Main Line) applications.’

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