Who We Are

John Hutton – Chairman

John has a wealth of experience in the advertising, graphics and printing industry having worked in both the above-the-line and below-the-line sectors of the business, for a wide range of clients including Barratt Developments, Dunlop, NEI, BICC, International Paints, NHS and BBC.

In 1984 he was invited by Northern General Transport Limited to assist in the development of its new Go-Ahead Northern marketing brand and a year later, set up Design Publicity Limited to provide it with a complete package of advertising and print solutions, from livery design, outdoor poster and on-bus advertising through to print, displays and exhibitions.

More than twenty years later, alongside other client work, he is still heavily involved in buses and trains, working for Go-Ahead, First Group, Chester-le-Track and Elan PTC.

Alex Nelson – Director

Alex has a range of transport and other interests but is primarily known as the Director and Stationmaster of the independent railway station at Chester-le-Street on the East Coast Main Line.

Chester-le-Track Ltd employs seven people at the real station selling tickets and helping people plan their journeys around the UK, turning a moribund and derelict unstaffed station in 1999 into a main line station served by 3 train operating companies.

Alex also manages the company website www.chester-le-track.co.uk which sells tickets and gives information in the rail, other public transport, and accommodation sectors. This has continued a long association with the hotel sector in the UK. Development of the website, which has around 15,000 visits per day has involved collaborative working on transport mapping with other small businesses, as a result of which Alex was asked to address a major conference on transport network information in Vienna in September 2008.

George Watson – Director

As well as his interest in Railroute Ltd. George is Managing Director of Elan Public Transport Consultancy (Elan PTC) and is also a Director of and formerly Vice-Chairman of WyvernRail PLC. His background is in passenger transport having worked at senior levels in PTEs, and the bus industry in the state, PLC and independent sectors.

He created Elan PTC to provide specialist expertise in the passenger transport sector covering all modes from heavy rail, through light rail, guided bus, bus to flexible bus including integrated solutions.

George has given his advice on important projects to the National Assembly for Wales and the Irish Government. He has extensive knowledge of the public transport industry, its workings, potential and relationship with other modes.

George was deeply involved in the development of the PLUSBUS ticketing project, giving support to Claire Haigh including operator liaison, development of information posters, legal aspects and contributions to website development and updates.

George drafted a full business, managing, promotion and mobilisation plan for a new bus company in the Middle East, and has also advised a major UK bus operator on the potential for developing their network of services in the north of England.

Martin Forster – Director

Martin has over 25 years experience working on high level IT projects. He has a technical background and is an expert in database design, all aspects of system programming as well as complex networking, VPN and network security.

Martin has carries out a lot of work over the years with the NHS networks where patient confidentiality is paramount. His company, Rombus Computers has developed the interactive version of Railroute. Rombus specialises in Hosting and cloud solutions. www.rombus.com

John Bullar – Director

John has a wealth of experience in the advertising, graphics and printing industry having for a wide range of clients in both the smaller and larger design agencies and is responsible for the brilliant design of the Railroute map.

After leaving college, John moved to London working in book design, publishing and advertising. John joined Design Publicity Limited to provide the company with design and artworks services, from livery design, outdoor poster and on-bus advertising through to print, displays and exhibitions.

Michael Beaney – CEO and Director

Michael has a wide range of marketing and sales expertise and has been the CEO of Online Services with Rombus Computers Ltd. Since March 2007.

Prior to this Michael worked for Primecare, a leading commercial provider of Primary Care to NHS patients and is part of the Nestor Healthcare group of companies. His initial role with Primecare was as Area Manager in North East England, the largest and most profitable area in the group with a revenue in excess of £10 million per annum and more than 100 staff.

In 2005, he became Head of Service Development for the company and was successful in winning tenders for new business from North Tees PCT as well as Hambleton and Richmondshire. As a result, Primecare established a dental company (Primecare Oral Health Services Ltd) to run alongside its out of hours GP service. Michael’s other work experience includes Senior Management roles in advertising, retail and service industries both in marketing and operational management.