West Coast Partnership in conversation
 

On 19 November, West Coast Partnership is hosting a webinar on growth and connectivity in the Midlands. Speakers include Mayor Andy Street; Sir John Peace, Chair of Midland Connect; Laura Shoaf, Managing Director of Transport for West Midland; Denise Wetton, Commercial and Business Development Director for Network Rail; Caroline Donaldson, Managing Director of West Coast Partnership Development; Richard Scott, Partnership and Strategy Director, West Coast Partnership (Chair).

Please do register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/growth-and-connectivity-in-the-west-midlands-registration-126302531271

The webinar is the latest in a series of engagements in which West Coast Partnership has contributed to debate over the future of the West Coast Main Line and development of HS2 with industry leaders and senior stakeholders.

On 28 October, Avanti West Coast Managing Director Phil Whittingham spoke at the Scottish Transport Awards Summit. Phil joined a discussion with Alex Hynes, Managing Director, Scotland's Railway and Bill Reeve, Director of Rail, Transport Scotland. They discussed measures to encourage passengers back on to trains in the short term, and investments in Scotland’s railways to drive cross-border connectivity and growth. There were 200 attendees from a wide range of stakeholder groups.

On 5 October, Caroline Donaldson spoke at the Conservative Party conference, at an event co-hosted with the Institute for Government. Caroline joined a discussion with Chris Loder MP and Simon Jupp MP, both members of the Transport Select Committee, as well as Laura Shoaf, Managing Director of Transport for West Midlands. They discussed measures to encourage passengers back on to trains in the short term, and how to ‘build back better’ to make rail attractive to customers in the long-term. Over 200 attendees watched the discussion.

On 18 September, West Coast Partnership Chief Executive Steve Montgomery and Caroline Donaldson spoke at the Transport Times annual Rail Summit. Steve joined a discussion with Sir Peter Hendy, Chair of Network Rail; Andy Byford, Transport Commissioner, Transport for London; and Katy Taylor, Group Commercial and Customer Director, Go-Ahead Group. They discussed measures to encourage passengers back on to trains in the short term, and how to ‘build back better’ to make rail attractive to customers in the long-term. Caroline joined a discussion with Mark Thurston, CEO HS2; Jim Steer, Director, Greengauge21 and Frazer Henderson, Head of Rail Policy, Transport Scotland. They discussed HS2 Phase 1 and Beyond, focused on how to maximise rail infrastructure investment and collaboration to deliver regional growth and community development for the benefit of customers.

In August, senior figures in the North of England and rail industry championed the importance of partnership working as well as transport’s role at the heart of growth and recovery across the North at a virtual roundtable event hosted by WCP.

Titled Growth and Connectivity in the North West, the event brought together Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester; Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool city Region; Transport for the North’s Strategic Rail Director, David Hoggarth; and Caroline Donaldson, Managing Director of West Coast Partnership Development (WCPD) – the team working with the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd to design and develop high speed services on HS2 infrastructure.

 
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