Simon Wright appointed as new Crossrail Programme Director

At the end of April Crossrail announced that Simon Wright has been appointed as new Programme Director. Simon Wright, currently Project Development Director at Network Rail, and previously Director of Infrastructure and Utilities with the Olympic Delivery Authority, will take up his role this summer.

Wright will be responsible for ensuring that the Crossrail Programme Partner and Project Delivery Partner deliver the Crossrail scheme on time and on budget. The Programme Director will deputise for the Chief Executive when required and will serve as one of three Executive Directors on the Crossrail Board.

Simon Wright takes the place of predecessor Andrew Mitchell who accepted a new responsibility as Chief Executive of the Thames Tideway Tunnel’s delivery organization.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive said: „Simon Wright is an outstanding candidate who successfully led the delivery and commissioning of the infrastructure for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games; Crossrail will benefit enormously from his knowledge and expertise. The Crossrail programme is now over halfway to completion with the end of major civils in sight and a team fully engaged on delivering stations fit-out and the transition to an operational railway. Simon will lead the delivery team during this important second half as we move closer to realising this critically important project for London and the UK.“

When Crossrail opens in 2018, it will increase London‘s rail-based transport network capacity by 10 per cent, bringing an extra 1.5 Million people to within 45 minutes of central London.