Latest Rail News

22.11.17

Siemens appoints new rail managing director

Siemens has appointed a new managing director of its Rail Automation business in the UK.

Rob Morris, who first joined the company in January 2015, will take up his new position from 1 December.

Currently the director of operations, he is responsible for the company’s rail signalling and digital rail automation projects across the UK, and works closely with Network Rail, London Underground and Crossrail.

During his career, which spans four decades, he has worked on high-profile infrastructure projects across the rail, nuclear, aviation, power and energy, oil and gas sectors.

Welcoming Morris to his new post, Gordon Wakeford, managing director of Siemens Mobility Division UK and chair of the Rail Supply Group, said the company is delighted by the appointment.

“Given his many years’ industry experience, I know he will hit the ground running and that under his leadership, our business will continue to go from strength to strength,” he added.

“With his delivery, strategic, relationship management and collaborative working experience, together with his unwavering commitment to safety, he has the perfect range of skills for this role. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Paul Copeland who has successfully led the company for the last four years and to wish him well in his retirement.” 

Morris, who will be based at the company’s Chippeham site, said that he is thrilled by the promotion.

He praised his team: “I’m fortunate to be working with an exceptionally talented and committed group of people and to be at the heart of an industry which is delivering infrastructure projects of extraordinary scope, scale and complexity.

“I look forward to working ever-more closely with the team at Siemens, our customers and supply chain partners as we continue to safely and successfully deliver rail infrastructure projects across the UK.”

During his time as director of operations, Morris wrote for RTM about Siemens’ impressive track record across the north, with the company being involved in major projects such as the Ordsall Chord and the TransPennine route upgrade.

He was also one of the primary speakers at this year’s TransCityRail North, for which Siemens was a key sponsor. Take a look at the event highlights here.

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Comments

Neil Weston   24/11/2017 at 08:30

Congratulations Rob, I hope the new venture proves to be rewarding. I throughly enjoyed working with you on the Northern HUB.

Uncle Albert   24/11/2017 at 12:25

unfortunately I think one of his upcoming tasks will be to oversee mass redundancies. The mess of NR Control Period budget is likely to see signalling investment fall off a cliff and many of the supply base are going to have drastically cut numbers.

Derby Traveller   28/11/2017 at 19:41

Already happening. Alstom is making around a half of its signalling staff redundant (about 250 heads to go), Atkins has already laid off staff, and Siemens itself has (I am told) already got a recruitment freeze in place. We're not even into 2018 yet, and a number of signalling infrastructure projects close by mid-2018. Cheap recruits for HS2, I guess.

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