Dyan Crowther

Chief Executive Officer, H S 1 Ltd

Chief Executive Officer, HS1 Ltd

Dyan Crowther has become one of the most recognisable faces in the UK rail industry, having held some of the most challenging and high-profile operational roles it has to offer. From joining British Rail as a graduate trainee in 1986, she climbed the ranks at BR and then Railtrack, prior to becoming the UK’s first ever female managing director of a train operating company (TOC) in 2002.

For the next two years she led the turnaround of Arriva Trains Northern after it had officially been ranked as the UK’s worst performing TOC. She then joined Network Rail, where she became director of operations in 2010 and then route managing director for NR’s largest route (London North Western) in 2012.

In June 2014, Dyan was appointed chief operating officer of the UK’s largest TOC Govia Thameslink Railway, before commencing her current role in December 2016 as chief executive officer of HS1 Ltd,

“I’ve got the best job in UK rail... this is not just a railway but very much a part of people’s lives”

the company with a 30-year concession to own and operate High Speed 1 and the stations along its route.

Meanwhile, she is also a member of the British Transport Police Authority, a board trustee of the charity Railway Children and is an editorial board member of RAIL’s sister title RailReview.

She says: “I’ve got the best job in UK rail. Not only am I accountable for operating what is the UK’s only high-speed railway, but it’s also a gateway to Europe, an economic driver in East London and Kent, and the enabler of the London Olympics in 2012.

“Without High Speed 1, none of that would have happened, so this is not just a railway but very much a part of people’s lives.”

Looking back to 1986, Dyan says that BR’s graduate scheme was one of many that she applied for after studying geography at Middlesex University. But she soon fell in love with the amount of responsibility and freedom that it afforded her, after she was selected to be station manager at Peckham Rye and nine surrounding stations, at the tender age of 21.

She explains: “I’m a very ‘outdoors’ type of person. I didn’t fancy being stuck behind a desk, which made touring my patch a bonus. And I loved the level of accountability given to me at such an early stage in my career. I remember that some of the callouts were for ticket office break-ins, so my first port of call would be the local police station. But they were different times, and it made me appreciate the basics of how the railway works and how supportive everyone in the industry is of each other.”

Having enjoyed more than three decades of uninterrupted service in the rail sector, Dyan says that the industry’s many structural changes have been part of its enduring appeal, as is the incredible growth in investment and patronage since privatisation.

She adds: “When I joined BR, sectorisation was happening which was an exciting chapter, and then came privatisation. Since then we’ve seen much more investment, the doubling of passenger numbers, lots of new rolling stock and the construction of HS1, so it’s a fabulous sector to be involved in.

“I’ve not just worked in operations either, but in personnel and retail management and strategic planning. Why would I have wanted to go anywhere else when there is so much opportunity here?”

Away from the day job, Dyan is an assessor for the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and was a non-executive board member for the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust from 2011-2015.

She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and three children and has always used physical activity as a way of blowing off steam, and coping with the demands of senior leadership.

She concludes: “I go running, do martial arts, and I used to play and umpire netball, so I use sport to keep myself sane. I also do what I like to call ‘extreme walking’ with groups of people to places like Everest Base Camp and to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, and next year I plan to go to Machu Picchu.

“In places where there are no phones or mobile devices your mind gets a chance to rest, and to appreciate the environment and to form new relationships. We all share the same objectives and there are no airs and graces or seniority.” ■