Green light: the boss of GB Railfreight with an eye on the environment
Share:
Teenage trainspotting, plus a passion for the railway that matches his love for Sunderland AFC, have transported John Smith to a successful career. Travel north on the east coast mainline, the main London to Edinburgh route, and you may spot the gift John Smith received from colleagues last year.
The huge sign, which stands metres away from the line just north of Peterborough station, carries the Sunderland AFC emblem alongside two arrows, one pointing 85 miles south to Wembley, the other 188 miles to the club’s Stadium of Light. “The lad who did it was a Newcastle supporter, so it was through gritted teeth,” says Smith, the boss of GB Railfreight and a lifelong Sunderland fan.
The sign stands next to a maintenance depot – the first depot GB Railfreight owned after it was launched in 1999. Initially a branch of the now defunct rail operator GB Railways Group, the freight business, which Smith was asked to launch, was aimed at making the most of new opportunities after rail privatisation in the mid-1990s.
From winning its first contract in 2001, GB Railfreight has become one of the largest freight companies in the UK, alongside DB Cargo and Freightliner, operating 173 trains and employing more than 1,400 people. In that time, its ownership has changed four times, with M&G’s infrastructure arm Infracapital its current owner, but Smith has remained at the top of the company.
