The Chief Executive of the newly-formed Department for Transport Operator Limited (DFTO) has been named as Alex Hynes, who is currently the Director General of Rail Services at the Department for Transport.
DFTO was created to bring all train operators that are currently privately owned into public ownership. Alex will lead their transition to Great British Railways, for which legislation to establish it is currently going through Parliament.
With significant experience in both the rail industry and the Department for Transport, Alex will be tasked with supporting the Government’s aim of bringing together track and train to deliver a better service for passengers.
Until he joined the civil service, from 2017 to 2024, Alex held senior positions at ScotRail and Network Rail Scotland, and had a long career as Managing Director of train operator Northern before it transferred into public ownership in 2020, where he oversaw the company’s best customer satisfaction scores and record levels of employee engagement.
Alex will take up his position as chief executive on Tuesday, 23rd December, taking over from the current CEO Robin Gisby’s who is on a fixed-term contract.
By 1st April 2026, over 200 civil servants will have transferred from rail teams at the Department for Transport (DfT) into the DFTO to ensure it has the necessary resources needed to take on more services. Their transfer will go towards ensuring the smooth functioning of operators after they have transferred into public ownership.
So far, half of Britain’s train operators are in public ownership, the latest being Greater Anglia in October. Alex Hynes will be tasked with playing a crucial role in managing future transitions from private to public ownership.
“It’s a privilege to be joining DFTO at such a pivotal moment. I look forward to working with so many talented colleagues from across the publicly owned train operating companies, Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the wider rail industry. Building on DFTO’s strong foundations and Robin’s achievements, my focus will be on delivering safe, reliable and efficient services for passengers, and helping to drive rail reform.”
Alex Hynes, Director General of Rail Services at the Department for Transport
Responses
“a long career as Managing Director of train operator Northern before it transferred into public ownership in 2020,”
And there was me thinking that Northern was Stripped of it Franchise back in 2020 because of basically poor performance . In fact when I searched on line I found :
“Northern is owned by DfT Operator for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020; this was amid widespread dissatisfaction over its performance, particularly in respect of poorly implemented timetable changes”
Strange world we all live in, wouldn’t you say ?