Chris Stokes

Chris Stokes is a highly respected, innovative and effective railway strategist with over 40 years experience in the rail industry. During his career in British Rail, he was Resources and Planning Director for InterCity, then Deputy Director, Network SouthEast.

He was subsequently Deputy Franchising Director during the initial privatisation process, taking a leading role in the sale of the initial twenty five franchises, which was successfully achieved in only thirteen months, at a time of intense political and public scrutiny. He was then an Executive Director at the Strategic Rail Authority, responsible for the future development of the network.

Chris has worked as a consultant since 2000, advising on a wide range of strategic issues in the rail industry, including franchise bidding, advice to Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive on the development of its rail network, and work for the Association of Train Operating Companies on the case for electrification. He advised the 51m group of local authorities in relation to HS2, and the Ontario Provincial Government on the electrification and upgrade of the Toronto commuter network.

Chris was a non-executive Board member at the Office of Rail Regulation and Chairman of Agility trains, a joint venture of Hitachi, John Laing plc and Barclays Private Equity supplying new InterCity trains for the British network. Until recently, he was also a partner in First Class Partnerships.