Alex Hynes

New ScotRail Alliance Managing Director ALEX HYNES talks to RICHARD CLINNICK about why he moved north of the border in June, and the challenges he faces in his new role

ScotRail Alliance Managing Director ALEX HYNES discusses the challenges he faces in his new role.

Alex Hynes is an ambitious man. Sitting in his office on a rainy Glasgow day, the new ScotRail Alliance Managing Director explains that is why he left the MD’s role at Northern to take on this new position.

Hynes has replaced Phil Verster, who has moved to work on the East West Rail project. Hynes himself has left an operator that was about to benefit from brand new trains and an increase in electrified routes, but one where there were still challenges.

Industrial action blights Northern at the moment, in a row over Driver Only Operation. Electrification has been cancelled on the Windermere branch, and doubts remain over wiring the trans-Pennine route from Manchester to Leeds. Officially it has not been cancelled, but Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said in an interview with the

Financial Times on July 21 that it was unlikely the project would happen.

In various speeches at various conferences, Hynes would explain the four major changes that would happen on Northern in 44 months, yet you wonder if - in the background - there was concern over delivery of the major upgrades planned.

From south of the border, Scotland may seem like the perfect railway opportunity. Borders Railway has involved the reversal of a Beeching closure and the reopening of a 30½-mile section of railway. Electrification is ongoing, and will link the country’s two major cities via the quickest route possible. Wires have been strung up in recent years on various commuter routes in and around Glasgow and Lanarkshire, while they are planned for Stirling and Alloa.

Refurbished High Speed Trains are also to be introduced from next year, serving the country’s seven cities and improving the service offering from three-car diesel multiple units to four- and five-car HSTs.

Hitachi is delivering brand new electric multiple units to ScotRail from the summer, while the manufacturer’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP) trains will start serving Scotland from next year for Virgin Trains East Coast.

And yet the railways in Scotland come in for constant criticism. Performance is scrutinised, and delays and failures make front page news in the national press. Social media is quick to jump on any problems.

Scottish Transport Minister Humza Yousaf has made it quite clear that he and his Scottish National Party (SNP) believe Network Rail should be devolved and run by Holyrood, with funding arranged via the Scottish Government. Already Holyrood’s Transport Scotland sets the specification for the ScotRail franchise, with a higher emphasis on quality than Whitehall would otherwise place. Performance north of the border is good, but seemingly that’s not enough for either the politicians or travelling public.

The Scottish railway network is also full of complications. The main line to Aberdeen, for example, has 100mph running under semaphores controlled by signal boxes. There