THE NICK PIGOTT INTERVIEW INCE the departure from the scene of GNER’s James Sherwood, Virgin’s Chris Green and EWS’s Ed Burkhardt, the modern railway industry has been rather Sbereft of colourful, charismatic leaders. Sir Richard Branson and Brian Souter remain involved, of course, but their profiles on the rail side have been somewhat lower in recent years. Step forward a tall, bearded, rather commanding figure by the name of Keith Ludeman. Ludeman is the chairman of no fewer than three train operating companies – Southern, South Eastern and London Midland – and he chose the names for all three. “I love railway history”, he told me as we settled down in his office near London Victoria station, surrounded by art deco posters from the pre-war heyday of the Southern Railway. “Anyone with testosterone in their veins loves steam locomotives and I have happy memories of travelling behind them as a kid, so I’ve grown up with a deep respect for the past. “Our marketing people wanted to give the West Midlands franchise a ghastly name such as ‘Tempo’ and it was suggested that the Integrated Kent franchise be given a ‘texty’ title similar to National Express’s ‘c2c’. Keith Ludeman: “I think names like that are rubbish. I was A passion for having none of it!” railway history Picture: GOVIA Influence Keith duly chose London Midland in recognition of the old LMS and BR’s LM Region, and London & South Eastern Railway Ltd – South Eastern for short. What do Southern, He is able to wield such influence as a result of his position as chairman and chief executive of franchise-holder Govia, a joint venture partnership formed by Go-Ahead Group (of South Eastern and which he is also group chief executive) and the European transport company Keolis. Because Govia doesn’t have the high London Midland public profile of Virgin, National Express or Stagecoach, it may come as a surprise to many passengers and enthusiasts to learn that it’s have in common? Britain’s busiest rail operator, carrying 900,000 people a day and running 28.7 per cent of the country’s passenger journeys. Until 2006, it Answer 1: They all have traditional railway names. controlled the former Thameslink franchise too, while Go-Ahead in its own right ran Thames Answer 2: They all have the same chairman, Keith Trains until 2004. As of this summer, Govia is also operator Ludeman (who also chose the names). of the fastest trains in Britain – South Eastern’s 140mph Class 395s – leapfrogging the The Editor went to meet him. traditional East and West Coast inter-city routes in the process. In fact, now that these Japanese- built units are about to extend their operation to Canterbury, South Eastern can claim to be an ‘inter-city’ operator in its own right! So, who is the man who has spent the last ten years quietly steering Govia into this impressive leading position? Appropriately, he is a fan of fast cars, but it was in the bus industry that he cut his teeth as a transport strategist. Born in Waterloo, London, on January 28, 1950, Keith was brought up at West Wickham, Kent, and particularly recalls travelling behind steam as a boy during summer holidays on the Isle of Wight and in south Devon – going by train from Paddington and onto the now-closed Kingsbridge branch. After leaving school, he studied geography at Newcastle Because of the late delivery of new ‘Electrostars’ to Southern, London Midland lent its sister franchise some Class University and then transport engineering & 350 ‘Desiros’ for use on the East Croydon-Milton Keynes route. On March 16, No. 350113 calls at Kensington Olympia planning at Manchester’s Salford University (in with a southbound service. BILL TurVILL between which he sandwiched a 15-month t October 2009 • The Railway Magazine • 21 THE NICK PIGOTT INTERVIEW t stint as a Tynemouth bus conductor). He then worked in various local transport roles in Hitachi Class 395s Nos. 395003 and the North-West before moving to Hong Kong 395002 head east through Folkestone in 1982, spending three years as a senior Warren on January 29, 2009 with a transport officer there at the time the Kowloon- driver-training trip. South Eastern’s Canton railway was being extended. full high-speed domestic service After returning to Britain, he became starts in December. managing director of Burnley & Pendle buses ALAN CrOTTY in 1986 and London General two years later, but retained his admiration for railways: “My DVD collection includes ‘The Last Days of Steam’ and the entire British Transport Films library (although my wife only allows me to watch one of those a month!),” he jokes. After gaining a far-from-henpecked reputation for toughness in his battles with the trades unions in the ’eighties and in leading a successful management buy-out, Ludeman found himself in the Go-Ahead camp with an improved bank balance when the group bought London General in 1996 – and three years later he got the chance to swap buses for trains with his appointment as managing director of both Thameslink and Thames Trains in April 1999. His entry into the rail industry was to prove traumatic, however, for just six months later, one of his Thames drivers took a DMU through Above: A telephoto shot a danger signal at Ladbroke Grove, colliding taken from the north end head-on with a Great Western HST and causing of platform 13 at Clapham the deaths of 31 people in one of Britain’s Junction shows Southern worst-ever train crashes. Class 455 No. 5803 on a Victoria-Sutton service Traumatic passing Class 377 No. As m.d., Keith was the man who took the 377441, in-bound to media flak. “It was a traumatic time,” he Victoria, on July 28, recalled. “For days, I had the press camped at 2005. CHrIS MILNEr the bottom of my drive and I was hauled up to company was successful in retaining Southern operation and so it was a better fit for us.” Brighton. Politicians too are clambering over see John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister. Left: South Easterm (the new 70-month franchise starts on Keith’s passion for traditional company themselves to be associated with high-speed and “However, I was extremely fortunate in Inner-suburban unit No. September 20). This means Govia is committed names extends to liveries. In the case of South it’s wonderful for us that Transport Secretary having as general manager at the time a 376007 waits at Hayes to to paying £201m in the final year of the term, Eastern, the fleet of EMUs already ordered Lord Adonis is an enthusiast for railways.” highly-experienced railwayman in Terry Worrall form the 14.13 to Cannon but Ludeman isn’t afraid of falling into the same had been specified in ‘vanilla’ by the SRA The 395s are branded and marketed as and it was decided that he would deal with the Street on March 14, 2007. trap as GNER and NXEC on the East Coast. pending refranchising, but on Southern, he had ‘Southeastern High Speed’ and Keith says the inquiry and day-to-day aftermath of the disaster pauL BICKErdyke “The NX bid was made a couple of years the chance to specify the famous green of the Olympic Delivery Authority gets a little upset if while I concentrated on the company’s future, ago in the white heat of economic boom,” he past for the trains as they were being built. “I people call them ‘Javelins’ as that’s the name the as I was also bidding for the South Central the basis that trains south of the Thames should the Integrated Kent franchise, also came with said. “Our bid was based on up-to-date also seriously considered returning to maroon ODA will be using for the St Pancras-Stratford franchise at the time. To win that the following be green, to capitalise on the Southern’s aura the right to run the high-speed domestic economic forecasts and assumed a negative for London Midland, but the colour doesn’t shuttle service during the Olympics. “However,” year was very satisfying.” and try to breathe something of that into it services on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now economy. Also, the premium is not as high as wear well,” he explains. “It flattens off after a he says, “we’re going to name the sets after In typically outspoken fashion, he is again. I wanted to eradicate the Connex image HS1) – he replaced most of the existing it appears as part of the National Rail access few months and looks tired and old-fashioned. Olympians and one will be a javelin thrower, so scathing about his predecessor at South Central and give people something to be proud of. managers and put his own people in. charges are effectively paid by DfT grant.” So we went for green, black & grey instead and I’m not sure what the public will call them!” He – the French company Connex: “My God, “I didn’t even have to run my ideas past the He was accused of being rather aggressive at The bid Ludeman did put together during passengers got to like it pretty quickly.” ruled out the possibility of South Eastern adopt- Gaullist flat hats, run-down and clapped-out Govia board members. They just said ‘Call it the time, but vindication came some time later the boom was for the West Midlands, but, he With regard to the 140mph Class 395s, ing its own catchy generic name for the class.