Crosscountry Appoints Sarah Kelley as Regional Director

Great Britain’s largest long-distance rail operator, CrossCountry, has today announced the appointment of Sarah Kelley as Regional Director. 

Sarah has over 20 years’ operational and strategic experience both at Network Rail and train operator level. In recent years, she has headed up operations at Arriva Rail London and since October 2019, held the position of Planning Performance Director at CrossCountry. Her operational nous and ability to work with stakeholders make her a valuable addition to the team. She also has extensive knowledge of the western route having worked in senior positions at First Great Western, which will benefit the business tremendously. 
Her appointment marks the company’s decisive move to strengthen its decision making regionally with Kelley being the third appointee of four regional directors.

She will be responsible for the operational and financial performance for the west, helping to instigate change to benefit the customer. In Wales, CrossCountry is proud to link the capital, Cardiff, with cities across Great Britain and Sarah will spearhead the business’ plans to improve services into Wales in the coming years.

Sarah commented: “This is an exciting opportunity to strengthen our presence in the region and build enduring relationships with key stakeholders which will improve our service delivery to the customer.”

Tom Joyner, Managing Director at CrossCountry added: “As a valued senior leader in our business, I am delighted that Sarah will be taking on the role of Regional Director. Arriva has a strong track-record in Wales and Sarah’s appointment will allow us to build on this expertise. CrossCountry is changing and the regional directors will enable us to be more effective in the region, reflecting a wider trend for more localised decision making. This is a win-win for our people and importantly our customers.” 

Sarah will take on her new role at the end of April 2020.

Notes to Editors: 

CrossCountry’s network is the most geographically-extensive passenger rail franchise in Britain. Stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff, it calls at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of the Britain’s 10 largest cities and delivers 298 services every weekday, equating to some 40 million passenger journeys a year. 

For further information on CrossCountry services visit crosscountrytrains.co.uk or follow them online via Twitter at @crosscountryuk or Facebook.com/crosscountrytrains  

CrossCountry is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe. Arriva employs over 53,000 people and delivers over 2 billion passenger journeys across 14 European countries each year