04 April 2003
Former London Transport chair Denis Tunnicliffe has rejoined the rail sector as chair of the Rail Safety and Standards Board, which started work on April 1.
It replaces Railway Safety, which was demerged from the former Railtrack company in 2001 at the insistence of the Cullen inquiry into the Ladbroke Grove train crash.
The board is a not-for-profit company and has no legal powers over the industry. It will give effect to its rulings through the licences issued to train operators and to Network Rail, which require them to abide by the board's decisions.
The board's chief executive is Len Porter, previously director for global transportation business at Lloyds Register. The new body includes four independent non-executive directors and one from the Strategic Rail Authority.
Tunnicliffe said: 'The company goal is to promote safety improvements in the rail industry by developing long-term strategy, setting standards and helping operators to achieve challenging safety targets, and measuring and reporting progress in key safety areas.'
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