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Date/Time

  • Tue, 12 Mar 2013, 17:45-18:00
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Location

  • TfGM Offices, 2 Piccadilly Place, Manchester, M1 3BG

IRO Area


Event Details

Presentation by Stephen Clark, Rail Programme Director, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).

Stephen has been the Rail Programme Director at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) since 2010 – a role created to build a stronger focus around rail.  He has played a leading role in securing longer trains on local rail services, the Northern Hub investments, and the two Greater Manchester High Speed Two station sites.  Stephen is now working with partners across the North to develop a proposition for Westminster government to devolve decision-making in rail franchising.
Stephen joined TfGM after a stint at Manchester City Council where he managed the work of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, and was editor-in-chief of the city centre transport strategy. In 2008 Stephen moved to Greater Manchester from the Department for Transport where he had been Head of Rail Strategy. Prior to DfT he had been Director of Planning at the Strategic Rail Authority – where he published the first Route Utilisation Strategies.

The North West is witnessing the largest investment programme seen on the rail network since the late 19th Century. Over the next 6 years we can be look forward to;

  • The Northern Hub implemented in full – fundamentally changing the pattern of many rail services, consolidating and improving others, and creating a network better able to cope with the ever-growing demand;
  • Electrification to Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool Leeds and beyond – the final realisation of hopes and ideas that have been around for over 40m years – since the wires first reached London in 1966.
  • The long-overdue rebuilding of the iconic Manchester Victoria.

All this is happening within the framework of other changes. Firstly devolution – and the implementation of the Coalition government’s promise to see a “fundamental shift of power from Westminster…”. In turn this will;

  • “support sustainable growth… , balanced across all regions…”
  • “unlock growth in the cities”

Parallel with all this change will come rail re-franchising. The recent “Brown Review” into rail franchising, amongst other things, positively supports rail devolution in the North.
Sometime soon the DfT will announce the revised timetable for the re-franchising of Northern Rail and First Tran-Pennine Express. Re-franchising offers an opportunity to  improve on what we have now, without losing any of the gains of recent years, and with greater focus on the needs of this Region and other parts of the North.

All in all an incredibly exciting time for the railways and TfGM.  Stephen Clark, Rail Programme Director, with TfGM will provide an insight on refranchising in the North West along with investment plans, devolution and other transport opportunities over the coming years.

IRO Students: This event will be useful for certificate students for the Background to the railway industry module and diploma Railway Business Organisation module.

Contact: Tricia Meade nw.events@railwayoperators.co.uk for further details

Light refreshments will be available from 17:45

(The venue is near to Piccadilly Station approach)

CPD Topics Covered: Railway Organisations Business Context

Added on the website on March 12, 2013