Rail specialist James Le Couilliard has joined rolling-stock investment company Rock Rail. He will be working with the development team, focussing on rolling stock and rail infrastructure procurement projects in the UK and Australia.
Rock Rail is expanding its operations in both Europe and Australia, having successfully secured £3 billion of institutional funding for new rolling stock over the last four years.
With over thirty years of commercial experience in major infrastructure transactions behind him, predominantly in rail in both the public and private sector, James has worked in the UK and Australia and held numerous senior level commercial and industry advisory positions.
He has worked on some of the UK’s most transformative rail projects, including IEP and HS2, and was recently projects and bidding advisor for Hitachi on existing rolling stock supply and maintenance contracts and ongoing bids.
James also has an extensive knowledge and appreciation of public sector operations, having spent seven years as commercial lead on the £5.7 billion Intercity Express Programme for the Department for Transport, which resulted in the Class 800/802 trains now in service around the country.
Last month, Rock Rail announced the launch of its Australian business, with senior infrastructure developer and financier, Jim Eldridge, at the helm. James will work closely with Jim, as Rock Rail seeks to introduce new sources of long-term, highly competitive institutional investment into the market, to meet the growing demand for new intercity transport infrastructure and high capacity commuter travel.
In his new role, James will also focus on the UK market, where Rock Rail has been at the forefront of delivering better value financing solutions for rolling stock. He will work on new and existing UK projects and on extending Rock’s financing approach to deliver similar benefits to other rail infrastructure sectors, including digital signalling, electrification and depots.
Mark Swindell, chief executive officer of Rock Rail, said: “I am delighted to welcome James to the team. His extensive experience and expertise across the private and public sector and major rail initiatives will be invaluable as we fine tune our approach to create tailored solutions to meet the needs of passengers and our rail, public sector and investment partners across different markets.”
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