FirstGroup has appoint a new managing director for its subsidiary, open access rail operator Hull Trains.
Louise Cheeseman will now permanently take up the position she has held on an interim basis since March.
Louise is from Hull and started in the industry in 2001 as a guard with Northern Rail.
She was quickly promoted through a number of safety and operations roles and later became the general manager for Docklands Light Railway. This included responsibility for managing operations for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Following this, she spent some time in Sydney to assist in the preparation of a light rail bid and then spent a further two years with Metrolink in Manchester as service delivery director before she joined Hull Trains in a similar capacity.
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First Rail managing director Steve Montgomery said: “Louise has a wealth of global experience in the rail sector and has held several senior positions within the industry. We have exciting plans for Hull Trains including new rolling stock which will provide more seats for our customers and also offer the potential for more reliable journeys and further customer improvements when they enter service in 2019.”
Louise added: “I look forward to leading the team at Hull Trains and building on the successes that we have achieved over recent years, in which we regularly score highly in the industry’s independent satisfaction surveys.
“We will offer ambitious improvements for passengers. We recently invested £60 million in the development and production of five new hi-tech, bi-mode trains that will come into service next year. This will not only deliver a more reliable service, it will increase capacity and keep people moving and communities prospering as we connect the Hull and Humber region to the capital.”
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