Reprinted from Saturday February 8 2014

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TIMES PHOTOGHRAPHER CHRIS HARRIS Alistair Gordon is clear about his ambitions forKeolison this sideofthe Channel, reports Robert Lea

e’sanexpertin managing queues, he’sworkingfor the French...andhewants torun more of your rail- ways than anyone else. HAlistair Gordon is the chief executive of Keolis,aname not muchknown out- sideof the rail industry.Infact, Keolis isSNCF, the French state railway,in disguise and it is likely to become more familiar as it embarks on aggressive expansion to match the ambitions of its UK boss. Keolis is already a big player in Britain, helping to provideathird of all train journeys. It is the often-over- looked 35 per cent shareholder in joint ventures with Go-Ahead that runthree of the capital’s big commuter routes: Southeastern, Southernand Midland. It is also the minority share- holder in the joint venture with First- Group that operates theTransPennine Express. Its 45-year-old boss, though, is fedup with playing second fiddle. From his new headquartersastone’s throw fromEuston railway station in Central London, Mr Gordon, amaths graduateand specialistinqueueing theory whocut his rail teeth in the playground of privatisation in the 1990s, explains. “We have been a minority partner for nearly 20 years. Wehave been in the position of being one step back.We sit on the company boards, manage the KPIs [key perform- ance indicators], ask all the right and Alistair Gordon has his sights fixed on winning contracts from the East Coast Main Line to at the head of aconsortium,nolonger asajunior partner tough questions. Is the business per- forming? Can you do more? Have you lead on Thameslink, but, for the first complex because it is new.Thameslink because it is not dissimilar to opera- knowledge of passenger queue model- learnt from other organisations? time in therelationship,Keolis will take is complicatedbecause the existing tions its runs in Lyons and Melbourne ling landedhimajob in rail consultancy “Our ambition now is to bring the lead on . franchise is beingmerged into the and,onasmaller scale, in Nottingham at the advent of the commercialising together those skills and win franchises The bids reinforcealongstanding SouthernRailways network. and its tram network. forcesof industry privatisation. Later on our own or asamajority partner. partnership that had been in danger of “There are specific skills to running Mr Gordon did not takethe direct he went to work for Jim Steer,the cele- “What has changedis our [deeper] souring. Keith Ludeman, the former an SMS [suburban-metro-suburban] route intothe railways. The son ofa brated rail expert. His consultancywas understandingofthe market and Go-Ahead boss now on the board of line, taking trains offthe classic rail net- Scottish agricultural salesman anda workingon the creation of ,for havingthecapability — the headquar- , used to jokethat thetwo work, puttingthem through atunnel Welsh mother,heexcelled in mathsat which Mr Gordon later wenttowork. ters, staff, operations, engineering, companieswere still married, just and back on to the classic network. We his Reading comprehensive and took a He stayed at Eurostar for several years, timetabling skills. We have grown from sleepingin different bedrooms. think we have those skills getting degree in the subjectatUniversity Col- during which the high-speed passenger a team of eight to forty.Wecan runan Mr Gordon doesn’tdisagree. “There people intothe network and out again, lege London. Therehe became fasci- service was lovedby its customers but operation on our own.” definitely were tensions, but we have ofmanagingaflexibleoperatingplanso nated by the college’s traffic and trans- repeatedly missed its targets. The new office space is needed, for realised that we are good together. [At that one delay doesn’tcause chaos.” portation school and in his last year Rather than stay for more of the Mr Gordon is overseeingfour different one stage] Go Ahead felt they had the The fourth shortlistedKeolis bid is specialised in Queuing Theory and the same, he joinedKeolis, a company that franchise bids. Somethingisworking, skills and did not needus.Wefeltwe forthe ,on management of roundabouts or lines has had various owners overthe years though,asKeolis has been shortlisted werearail operator in our own right. As which its junior partner is theLondon waitingto use thecashpoint. and is now 70 per cent-ownedby for all four bids, the latest beingthe it is, the partnership now is as strong as Underground maintenance veteran Graduating into the 1990s’ recession, SNCF and 30 per cent-held by CDP,a eye-catchingKeolis-led joint venture it has ever been.” The Crossrail bid is Amey. The DLRbid works forKeolis he didn’t fancy accountancy, but the Canadian pension fund. He joined with with Eurostar to runtheEastCoast the self-confessedintention of risingto Main Line. Beingre-tenderedafter lead it and to leadabusiness that ran its spendingthe economic crisis as a Which person do you most admire? own franchises. nationalised entity, the London King’s Lord Coe. Grew up being abig fanof Itwould appear to beno coincidence Cross to intercityline is so his during his athleticscareer and to that Keolis has turned toaBriton to potentially lucrative that it has attract- Q&A see him lead the team that delivered CV ease their UK expansion. Mr Gordon ed the toughest of competition: First- the Olympicswas very inspiring thinks his nationality is as irrelevant as Group, Britain’sbiggest rail operator, Who,orwhat,is your mentor? What is yourfavourite television Education: Maiden Erlegh Secondary the fact that,despite spending mostof and its arch-rival Stagecoach-Virgin. Sir Mike Hodgkinson, chairmanof programme? School, Reading; University College his career working for the French, he WhileEurostar brings to the bid a Keolis UK (and aformer chief Strictly Come Dancing, right London,degreeinmathematics refusestospeak the language. whiffof slick marketing and an under- executive of BAA) What does leadershipmean Career: 1990: Gibb and “I joined with ambition forthe standingof the needs ofabusiness/ Doesmoney motivate you? to you? Partners (now partof company and that’swhy they gotmein leisure mix of passengers and fares, Mr It’s one of the many motivators,which Setting the ambition for the Jacobs), transport — someone to push and stretch the Gordon says that Keolis’sSNCF con- also include job satisfaction and company, motivating the team consultant; 1995: Steer business. Being Britishisnot the crite- nection brings decadesof making areal difference for the and giving them the tools to Davies Gleave,rail ria. What is important is having some- TGV expertise from France, too. business get the job done. Also,Iliketo consultant; 1997: Eurostar, one who knows the market and some- Keolis’s other shortlisted bids have a What wasthe most important event give my teamsthe opportunity latterlyasstrategy director; one whoisrespectedby the market. strong suburban and metro feel, again inyour working life? to develop bygiving them 2004: Keolis UK, initiallyas “Idon’tspeak French, which Iadmit playingtothe French connection and Leading the bid and winning the tasks outsidetheir particular a project director. Chief is probably quite surprising — butIam its parent’s runningof the cross-Paris franchise for Southeastern. field of knowledge executive of Keolis UK quitestubborn. Ifyou have madeno RER lines that are being replicated in Wewereayoung team and very How do you relax? since 2012 effort to speak French in the last18 London with Thameslink and Cross- motivated and it’s satisfying to see Cycling, running and being Family:Family of three years,Isuppose that shows you must rail. Keolis is partnering with Go- manyof that team doing well with my family children in Yorkshire genuinely think you are the best person Ahead on both:Go-Ahead will takethe for the job.”

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