The Board of Heathrow Southern Railway Limited (HSRL) – the independent venture set up to transform the rail network serving Britain’s busiest airport – is pleased to announce the promotion of Graham Cross to the position of Chief Executive.
Graham joined HSRL during 2017 working closely with Steve Costello as a co-Executive Director. The HSRL Board decided to promote Graham at Steve’s request to recognise the importance of clear leadership at the next critical stages for the Heathrow Southern Railway project.
HSRL Chair, Baroness Jo Valentine, said:
“With the UK Department for Transport and other stakeholders now actively engaged in securing a privately-financed railway to Heathrow and resolving this decades-old issue, HSRL is pleased to be able to place its full trust and executive authority with such a seasoned infrastructure development expert as Graham Cross. We also look forward to continuing to work with Steve Costello whose drive and vision has brought us to where we are today. Steve will continue to be heavily involved as an Executive Director as we go forward.”
For further information visit www.heathrowrail.com or contact Mark Walker on 01733 767244 or 07742 925753.
Notes for editors:
Graham Cross is a rail professional with a record of radically improving and developing railways to their full potential. He has ten years recent experience as a Director, in the Board Room and on the Executive teams of private sector train operating companies.
As Business Development Director at the award winning Chiltern Railways from 2007 to 2016 Graham led from inception to launch the £320m investment to expand Chiltern Railways services to Oxford, encompassing 10 miles of new and upgraded railway with new stations at Oxford Parkway and Bicester Village. Graham steered the scheme through the Transport & Works Act process, proved the business case, arranged financing and government agreement, and designed and implemented the train service specification.
Over three million passengers were carried in the first 18 months, exceeding the business case forecast, whilst the new stations have gone on to win awards for customer focus.
Whilst at Chiltern Railways Graham also implemented a range of further improvements, including a financially self sustaining £130m scheme called Evergreen 3 to upgrade rail infrastructure and reduce the London to Birmingham journey time by 20 minutes, sponsorship of the privately financed new station at Aylesbury Vale Parkway, the expansion of Birmingham Moor Street station, and the construction of over 2,000 new station car parking spaces to encourage off peak revenue growth. He directed the timetable planning teams to revise the service pattern resulting in cost efficiency, revenue growth, more seats at peak times, and industry leading levels of punctuality. Graham is an expert in rail franchising and regulation.
Earlier in his career Graham worked in the public sector at the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising and the Strategic Rail Authority, procuring rail improvements on behalf of government, and managing and negotiating Franchise Agreement contracts with private sector companies. He was instrumental in gaining the government guarantee which facilitated the operation of the Heathrow Connect local train service.
Graham started his career as a Railtrack Graduate Trainee, and has a degree in Geography from Oxford University.
