Captain Deltic writes...
I was saddened to learn of the death of Steve Marshall at the early age of 60.
Steve took over as Chief Executive of Railtrack when Gerald Corbett resigned, under pressure from a pusillanimous board, a month after the Hatfield derailment in October 2000.
As Railtrack's Finance Director he had been in the thick of the Company's battles with Rail Regulator Tom Winsor over the settlement for its second Control Period, against a background of the cost of the West Coast Route Modernisation spiralling out of control and performance reacheing new lows after Hatfield. To cap it all a new Chairman with zero railway experience was appointed.
Then, in October 2001, transport Secretary Stephen Byers forced Railtrack into Administration. While his Chairman prevaricated Marshall resigned immediately, agreeing to stay on until a replacement was appointed in March 2002.
His immediate concern was to obtain compensation for his shareholders, which eventually came to pass. During this second drawn out battle he continued as a non-executive director of the residual Railtrack company.
Most of my contact with Steve was during this turbulent period. It could not have been easy for a reserved finance man to be pushed into a high profile public position.
To me he was the only player to emerge with dignity from the enforced collapse of Railtrack, which was reflected in his subsequentlly successful career.
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