Porterbrook is pleased to announce two new appointments which will significantly enhance its safety, operations and fleet management expertise. Julie Bignell joins as Head of Safety and Operations, and David Allen joins as Head of Fleet Services (North). They will be part of Porterbrook’s expanded Engineering Services team, reflecting Porterbrook’s commitment to delivering sector-leading rolling stock asset management, and generate value for our customers and the wider industry.

Both Julie and David bring extensive professional experience. Julie has held a number of senior positions relating to safety, most recently as Head of Occupational Safety at South Western Railway, and prior to that as Head of Safety at Heathrow Express and Head of Safety, Thameslink Programme, at GTR. David was previously Depot (District) Manager at Northern, with responsibility for Newton Heath and Allerton and for the Engineering Region East. David is a chartered engineer with 29 years of experience in rail engineering.

Julie and David will reinforce Porterbrook’s ability to work with our customers to ensure the safe operation of the fleets, improve fleet performance and support the delivery of high quality rolling stock to rail users.

In addition to delivering new trains, Porterbrook is investing in its innovative FLEX range, enabling existing trains to operate on a wider range of electrified and non-electrified rail lines, and helping train operators to reduce emissions. HybridFLEX and BatteryFLEX are already seeing interest from customers, while a demonstrator of the hydrogen-powered HydroFLEX will debut at Rail Live in Long Marston, Warwickshire, in June 2019.

David will report into Neil Foster of the Engineering Services team. Julie will report into Jason Groombridge, Director of Engineering Services, who said: “I’m delighted that Julie and David are joining the Porterbrook team, bringing an exceptional track record of working directly with rail operators to improve safety and fleet management. We are always looking to maximise the services we provide to our customers, not just in terms of putting trains on the tracks, but by helping train operators get the best possible operational performance from their assets.”

David joined Porterbrook on 20 May and Julie joins on 10 June.