The Go-Ahead Group has named Richard Harrington (pictured, above) as Engineering Director. He takes up the role from 1 August and steps up from his previous position of Engineering Director of group subsidiary Go-Ahead London.
Succeeding Mr Harrington there is Chris McKeown (pictured, below). He becomes Engineering Director of the capital’s largest bus operator in a promotion from Chief Engineer.
Mr Harrington began his career in 1984 as an engineering apprentice with London Transport. With Go-Ahead London he has been responsible for various milestones including the introduction of the capital’s first route operated with diesel-electric hybrid buses and the establishment of Europe’s first all-electric bus depot.
Mr McKeown joined Go-Ahead as an engineering graduate in 2005. Since then he has held positions with Brighton and Hove Buses, Metrobus, and Go-Ahead London.
He has served as Chief Engineer since 2012 and in the intervening period has been instrumental in delivering transport for the 2012 London Olympics, the purchase of depots in Croydon, Northumberland Park and Orpington, and in the business’s accelerating transition to zero-emission. Mr McKeown is also a former routeone columnist.
As Group Engineering Director, Mr Harrington will assume responsibility for overseeing the digitisation and engineering performance programmes set out in the group’s business strategy, The Next Billion Journeys.
Also part of Mr Harrington’s remit will be supporting the group’s fleet and vehicle buying strategy.
He will maintain his existing responsibility as head of Go-Ahead’s Zero Emission Centre of Excellence, which was established in 2022, and report to Go-Ahead Group Strategy and Transformation Director Louis Rambaud.
“It is an honour to be offered such an opportunity, and after serving Go-Ahead London for so many years in a multitude of roles, I am looking forward to sharing my experience with my colleagues across the wider group,” says Mr Harrington.
“The challenge of decarbonising our fleet while driving efficiency through innovation and collaboration is one of the factors that will determine our success in delivering The Next Billion Journeys, and I am thrilled to be in a position where I can pick up the momentum of the work already underway and influence the way forward.”
