Phil Whittingham appointed Virgin Trains managing director

Phil Whittingham, lead executive at Virgin Trains has now been appointed managing director at the operator. Virgin says this is in recognition of his "huge contribution to the company", including leading it through negotiations with the Department for Transport for the East Coast franchise and overseeing the introduction of new services to Shropshire and Blackpool.

Whittingham will continue to lead the Executive team and will work closely with David Horne, who was recently appointed managing director of Virgin Trains East Coast.

• For more on this story, see RAIL 767, published on February 4.