Strategic Rail Consultants Phil Taylor, Richard Bexon, Simon Lawson and Wendy Morgan — all previously employed by the global management consulting firm — joined the company in January. They will enhance SGS CORREL Rail’s existing capability and help support its future growth.

The group brings with them over 50 years combined experience in rail consultancy and engineering, including research, development and implementation of major projects such as rolling stock, operations, maintenance, new build, procurement, transport regulation and energy efficiency.

CORREL Rail was acquired by Swiss-based SGS Group last summer. SGS’s Mark Dowell said: “The strategy behind our acquisition of CORREL Rail was to expand our railway services portfolio. We’re doing this by supporting the existing team in the further development of its impressive capabilities within existing markets, as well as in its entry into new services and geographical markets on a global level.”

“We’ve retained all existing members of the CORREL Rail team, and the addition of Phil, Richard, Simon and Wendy — four high-caliber and respected rail professionals — is a real coup and will stand us in an even stronger position.”

“Their knowledge and experience will enable us to offer current and future customers the additional service offering of strategic rail consultancy, which is hugely complementary to our existing independent verification and validation service for which SGS CORREL Rail is renowned. We’re delighted to welcome them to our team.”

Phil Taylor, who will be leading the consulting team, said: “This is such an exciting time for SGS CORREL Rail, and the opportunities open to us are vast. We’ve worked with the CORREL Rail team in the past, and now, with the backing of such a leading international company, the chance to become a part of it was very appealing. With our combined experience and areas of expertise, there is such potential and opportunity; we can’t wait to begin delivering value to SGS CORREL Rail’s customers.”