Network Rail today starts its search for a new director to lead one of the biggest project and construction portfolios in the country following the announcement that the company's managing director of infrastructure projects, Simon Kirby, is to join HS2 Ltd as CEO for the project's construction phase.

Over the next five years, Network Rail plans to invest some £24bn in thousands of projects around the country aimed at delivering a bigger, better railway enabling more trains to run, at higher speeds with more seats and better facilities at stations up and down the country.

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Network Rail's chairman, Richard Parry-Jones, said: "Simon has been extremely successful in his ten years with the company, delivering a large range of landmark projects all across the country. He leaves behind him a strong organisation that enjoys excellent relationships with our supply chain partners.

"We are very grateful for everything he has contributed and wish him the very best in his new role at HS2. Going forward the two organisations will be working closely together and Simon's appointment will only serve to reinforce that.

"Network Rail's £24bn of projects planned for the next five years continues the biggest sustained investment programme our railways have seen since the Victorian era to maintain the very highest safety standards, improve customer satisfaction, increase capacity by a third into our major regional cities and improve our operational efficiency to maximise value for taxpayers and rail users alike."

(CD/JP)