Gibb to join Network Rail on secondment

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Network Rail has announced that Virgin’s chief operating officer, Chris Gibb, is to join the company on a temporary basis in a bid to improve the West Coast Main Line.

Virgin Trains has agreed to the secondment with Network Rail for the remainder of this year to work with the company on improving the performance of the southern end of the West Coast Main Line.

The West Coast Main Line has seen a dramatic increase in traffic over the last five years and Network Rail have said the infrastructure is now delivering an “unacceptable level of reliability”.

David Higgins, chief executive of Network Rail, said: “We warmly welcome this collaborative approach by Virgin to work with us and the other train operators to drive up performance on this key part of our network.”

Mr Gibb will retain a number of his current duties and responsibilities for Virgin Trains and will continue to undertake these alongside the role in Network Rail and will report to Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director of network operations for the duration of his secondment. He will work very closely with Jo Kaye, the route managing director of the London North Western Route, which encapsulates the West Coast Main Line, and her team, using his 31 years of railway experience.

Tony Collins, chief executive officer at Virgin Trains, said: “Chris is one of the best operators in the industry and his experience will prove invaluable to Network Rail in delivering the improvements to performance our customers rightly demand. We have a strong working relationship with the team at Network Rail and this short-term secondment seemed the natural thing to do.”

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