Transport secretary Louise Haigh has appointed the chief executive of West Midlands Combined Authority to serve as the chair of Shadow Great British Railways.
Laura Shoaf will lead the new body, which is being created to oversee the nation's railway infrastructure and services. It is due to be formally established by the Railways Bill – which was included in July's King's Speech.
Shoaf has served as WMCA chief exec since November 2021. Before that she was managing director of Transport for the West Midlands, where she oversaw a multi-million-pound transport-investment package for the region.
At Shadow GBR, Shoaf will be contributing to the government’s overhaul of the railways – which is due to include the return of privatised train-operating services to public ownership, delivering improvements for passengers, and creating a "more unified" rail system. Shoaf will also help to shape the eventual form taken by Great British Rail and work to boost rail freight levels.
Haigh said Shoaf would bring "immense hands-on experience of delivering change" to her new role.
"Establishing Shadow Great British Railways is a significant step towards delivering a unified railway with passengers at its heart by bringing together track and train," she said. "It’s fantastic we have someone of Laura’s calibre to drive forward reforms."
Shoaf said her focus as chair of Shadow GBR would be to ensure that people are "at the heart" of the railways.
"The arrival of the railways fundamentally changed the United Kingdom – creating huge growth, new connections between communities and opening up the opportunity of jobs and adventure to people across the whole of the country," she said.
"I recognise the great power that our transport network plays in our day-to-day lives, but in order for it to work and in order for it to keep opening up these opportunities, it has to be built around our passengers and freight users."
SGBR brings together the leaders of Network Rail, DfT’s Operator of Last Resort and DfT’s Rail Services Group.
It will also work closely with industry partners to deliver better services for passengers and tackle the financial challenges facing the nation's railways.