UK: Abellio and Network Rail announced on January 20 that Phil Verster would be stepping down as Managing Director of the ScotRail Alliance to take the same position at East West Rail. EWR is being established by the UK government as a stand-alone entity independent of NR to take forward the remaining phases of work to build a direct route between Oxford and Cambridge.
Replacing Verster in Scotland will be Alex Hynes, who is currently Managing Director of Arriva Rail North, operator of the Northern franchise. He will move to NR later in the year, having led Northern since mid-2013.
