Northern has announced that Tony Plumbley will spearhead the organisation’s engineering preparations for the implementation of the ‘European Train Control System’ (ETCS) signalling across its network.
Plumbley, a resident of Northwich in Cheshire, joined Northern as head of engineering in March 2022.
Since his arrival, he has successfully delivered the train operator’s digital trains programme, developed a new operations management maintenance system, and equipped the Northern fleet for autumn leaf-fall with double variable rate sanding equipment.
In his new role, he will collaborate with Barry Thomas, Northern’s head of ETCS, to ensure a seamless integration of the system for colleagues in operations, programmes, training, engineering, safety, and commercial.
Steve Rowell, director of new rolling stock programmes at Northern, said: “Tony has successfully delivered a number of major projects since joining the team in 2022 and we couldn’t ask for a better engineering lead for the ETCS roll-out.
“ETCS is an exciting development for the rail industry and Northern is assembling a team to ensure we’re able to play our part in making the rail network even safer and more efficient.”
Tony Plumbley added: “I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth into all things ETCS. Northern has given me so many great opportunities to work on exciting projects with real-world customer benefits – and ETCS will be game-changing for the industry when it comes online.”
Plumbley joined Northern from Merseyrail and has previously worked for Cross Country, Arriva, and Bombardier.
Image credit: Northern
