Merseyrail appoints new managing director

Andy Heath has been promoted to managing director of Merseyrail as incumbent Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde prepares to leave to join West Midlands Trains.

Heath has been with Merseyrail for nearly 20 years, having joined in 1998 as a trains manager. He has held the role of operations manager since 2005 and has been in a deputy managing director role since 2012.

As managing director, Heath will be responsible for more than 1,200 staff and nearly 800 train services each day.

He will take up his new role on 11 December, the same day that current managing director Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde moves on to become managing director of West Midlands Trains, which is a joint venture between Abellio, JR East, and Mitsui.

Merseyrail is a joint venture between Serco and Abellio, and has run the Liverpool city region’s rail services for 14 years. Chaudhury-van der Velde has been managing director at Merseyrail since July 2015.

Heath said: “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.”

Frank Rogers, chief executive at Merseytravel, added: “Jan has done an excellent job at pushing Merseyrail to the next level, having overseen a hugely successful period in the concession, which saw record high levels for performance, passenger satisfaction and fleet reliability. We wish him all the best for the future.”