The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway plc appoints Professor John Dora as Chairman
New Chairman forGloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway
· Professor John Dora CEng FICE joins the GWSRPlc Board as Chairman
· ‘Strategic vision and practical experience’
20 March 2025: Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway Plc (GWSR), which owns and operates the 14-mile heritageline between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway, has appointed Professor John Dora as its new Chairman.
Professor Dora (65) brings considerable experience of railway civil engineering and management to the GWSR. He is an acknowledged expert in the resilience of infrastructure to climate change and is Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Birmingham and also a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey.
He was technical adviser to the joint Network Rail and Rail Safety Standards Board programme on climate risks (TRaCCA) as well as convenor of the team responsible for the International Standards Organisation’s climate change adaptation standards.
He starts this voluntary appointment with immediate effect, having been co-opted on to the Board on 18thMarch.
The railway has been without a Chairman following the resignation of Richard Johnson, due to ill health, last year. Finance Director Richard Winstanley has in the interim, acted in that capacity.
Richard Winstanley, Finance Director said: “John is a very welcome addition to the Plc Board. The wealth of experience brought by him will,I believe, mark a significant step in developing the future potential of our wonderful railway. He brings a blend of both strategic vision and practical experience that fits well with the challenges the railway faces both as a tourist attraction and in preserving its heritage as one of the UK’s leading preserved railways.”
John Dora added: “I am thrilled to be taking on this role at a time when the country is celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the birth of the passenger railway network.
“As a shareholder I have long admired the way that the GWSR has developed to become one of the leading attractions in the Cotswolds, as well as dealing with significant infrastructure issues such as landslips and restoration of Stanway Viaduct. Indeed, I have assisted in apractical way in the past, laying out the track alignment in Dixton Cutting as the railway extended southwards.
“I have experience with other heritage railways too, for example I am a past Chairman of the Somerset & Dorset Railway. I’m looking forward to meeting volunteers across the railway and helping to steer the railway into the future.”
John Dora is married and lives in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.
Ends
Media contact: Ian Crowder, 07775 566 555 or press.officer@gwsr.com
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