{"id":10214,"date":"2024-02-10T14:37:14","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T04:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=10214"},"modified":"2024-02-10T14:37:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T04:37:14","slug":"svr-confirms-jonathan-gus-dunster-as-permanent-managing-director-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=10214","title":{"rendered":"SVR confirms Jonathan \u2018Gus\u2019 Dunster as permanent managing director"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>After taking on the role in an interim capacity, Jonathan \u2018Gus\u2019 Dunster has been appointed the managing director role at Severn Valley Railway permanently.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> Jonathan \u2018Gus\u2019 Dunster has beeen appointed as managing director of SVR (Holdings) Plc with immediate effect.<\/p>\n<p>Gus took on the role in an interim capacity in March 2023, following his retirement from his previous role as Avanti West Coast\u2019s executive director of operations and safety. He had volunteered at SVR for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is great news for the railway,\u201d said Chris Walton, the chairman of SVR (Holdings) Plc. \u201cIt\u2019s yet another step in stabilising our organization, as we continue to meet the many challenges we face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the past year, Gus has worked closely not only with me, but also the rest of the board, the senior leadership team and our paid staff and volunteers. He has made a huge contribution to the railway\u2019s operation, galvanizing the entire team, and putting many new measures in place to secure the future of the SVR.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has brought in new board members, who have significantly strengthened our leadership, and he has also been instrumental in forging the SVR\u2019s landmark partnership with Network Rail, the first of its kind in the UK. His experience and connections with main line rail companies continue to yield invaluable benefits for us, and enable us to secure diverse income streams, and benefits in kind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gus said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure to be the SVR\u2019s interim MD for the past 11 months, as the railway works hard to counteract the long-term impacts of pandemic lockdowns, rocketing costs, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis that threatens visitor numbers. It\u2019s still early days, but there\u2019s a very real sense that we are now firmly heading in the right direction. I want to pay tribute to everyone across the SVR who has \u2018done their bit\u2019 in recent times. Despite the challenges we have much to look back on with pride from the 2023 season. I am very proud to be part of the team at this important time in our railway\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI must reiterate the message that tough times still lie ahead. We cannot be under any illusion that things are \u2018back to normal\u2019. Like all heritage railways, we face continuing challenges, but I am confident we can meet these, if we all work together for the good of the SVR.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we approach our 60th\u00a0anniversary in 2025, I hope everyone associated with the railway will share my optimism, and my determination to safeguard the SVR\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After taking on the role in an interim capacity, Jonathan \u2018Gus\u2019 Dunster has been appointed the managing director role at Severn Valley Railway permanently. Jonathan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,387,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-railways","category-scotlands-railway","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}