Experienced rail executive appointed MD of new franchise

Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde

Merseyrail’s Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde is to become the new managing director of the West Midlands Trains franchise.

Chaudhry-van der Velde has been MD at Merseyrail since 2015. He will take up the appointment on December 10 when the new franchise begins.

Prior to joining Merseyrail, Mr Chaudhry-van der Velde spent three years as Abellio UK’s deputy managing director. In this role he was a member of the Merseyrail board and played a critical role in the company’s successful bid for the ScotRail franchise.

Chaudhry-van der Velde has also held a number of director roles outside of Abellio including operations director at South West Trains, commercial director at Southern and operations & retail director at Thameslink. He first joined the sector in 1989 as a British Rail general management trainee.

Merseyrail’s new managing director will be Chaudhry-van der Velde’s former deputy, Andy Heath, who first joined Merseyrail as trains manager in 1998 and has been operations director since 2005. He will be stepping into the role on December 10, following Chaudhry-van der Velde’s move to WMT.

Chaudhry-Van der Velde said: “It’s a real honour to take on this role at such an exciting time for the West Midlands. The near £1bn of investment going onto the network over the coming years will deliver significant improvements to our customers’ journeys.

“Performance and customer satisfaction levels at Merseyrail were best in class during my time there, and I’m looking forward to delivering similar improvements at West Midlands Trains.”

Abellio, with its partners JR East and Mitsui, will be overseeing nearly £1bn of investment into the West Midlands network over the next nine years. This includes £680m on new trains, £70m on depots and £60m on station improvements.

Patrick Verwer, the outgoing managing director of London Midland, will move on after six years at the helm. He made this decision before the announcement of the new franchise.

There will be an announcement on the rest of the executive team for West Midlands Trains before the franchise starts on December 10.

Heath said: “I am extremely pleased to be taking on this new position, having worked at Merseyrail over the last two decades. During this time, we have delivered one of the best performing franchises in the country – an achievement that I will endeavour to maintain under my stewardship.

“My focus as managing director will be on three major projects: to deliver the new trains, modernise ticketing and improve customer facilities at our stations. This will not only drive Merseyrail’s success, but also support the ambitions of the Liverpool City Region.”

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