2024 has seen the departure of two railway officials with whom FoFNL has maintained excellent relationships. In January David Simpson, ScotRail's Service Delivery Director announced his departure, and in March the Department for Transport announced that Alex Hynes, Managing Director of Scotland's Railway, will be seconded to the DfT for two years from April, as Director General, Rail Services.

David has been our go-to ScotRail officer when we wanted to understand about an issue or make suggestions. I, as convener, have had roughly six-monthly meetings with David since I took over the role in 2018. He has supplied a great deal of useful information to us in that time, which has helped us enormously. It's very important to be able to have open discussions with a friendly face.

It's been a pleasure working with Alex too. He would always make time for a conversation when we met at various railway events. I remember walking along the platform at Inverness some distance behind him on our way to the 2017 FoFNL AGM & Conference. Alex was new to the job, and we were yet to meet, but I noticed that when he was passing through the ticket barrier he stopped and introduced himself to some ScotRail staff who were manning the barrier. My first impression was therefore of someone who knows how important it is that everyone in a large organisation feels valued as part of the team.

Both men will be hard to replace, we wish them well and look forward to having such excellent relationships with their successors.