{"id":319152,"date":"2025-11-19T19:15:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=67427"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:15:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:15:31","slug":"fresh-talent-at-uks-rail-freight-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=319152","title":{"rendered":"Fresh talent at UK\u2019s Rail Freight Group\u2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two heads are better than one, they say. So Rail Freight Group (RFG) has drawn on the services of two heads of industry for their board. RFG has appointed industry consultant Ralph Goldney to its Board and confirmed the re-appointment of long-standing member Richard Hastings, further broadening its strategic insight and sector expertise. Both appointments were formally confirmed at the organisation\u2019s Annual General Meeting on 12 November, held this year at the new Northampton Gateway Terminal.<\/strong>
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Rail Freight Group, which represents the interests of the sector throughout the UK, took the opportunity to gather its membership at Northampton to see the future of the sector in the shape of the facilities there. It also welcomed board members Ralph Goldney and Richard Hastings. Goldney, of Railfreight Consulting, joins the Board for the first time, while Hastings, Head of Logistics at Nestl\u00e9 UK & Ireland, continues his service following a successful re-election. Between them, the pair bring decades of technical, commercial and operational experience to the UK\u2019s leading rail freight representative body.<\/p>\n

\"The
The appointees, Ralph Goldney and Richard Hastings. Image: \u00a9 Rail Freight Group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deep industry experience<\/h2>\n

Goldney has worked in rail freight for 18 years, beginning with his role supporting GB Railfreight during mobilisation for its Metronet contract. Since founding Railfreight Consulting<\/a>, he has delivered major projects for RSSB and Network Rail, covering areas such as locomotive tractive effort, simplified signalling approaches and the development of End of Train devices. Trained as an engineer, he is known for combining technical depth with commercial understanding.<\/p>\n

Speaking after his election, Goldney said: \u201cThe RFG has always felt like my professional home, and I\u2019m honoured to be able to give something back. I look forward to supporting Maggie and the team, championing the benefits of rail freight, and helping strengthen our industry however I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sustainability leadership at Nestl\u00e9<\/h2>\n

Hastings brings more than 40 years of logistics experience, including 33 at Nestl\u00e9, where he leads a 260-strong transport and warehousing team. He has been instrumental in delivering Nestl\u00e9\u2019s sustainability transition, overseeing the shift of all warehouse operations to renewable energy, replacing diesel with low-carbon fuels, and encouraging greater use of rail. His work has included innovative solutions to overcome loading-gauge constraints, enabling a significant and sustained modal shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m delighted to have been re-elected to the RFG Board,\u201d he said. \u201cAs Nestl\u00e9 continues to move more of its traffic to rail, having a close relationship with the RFG is a major enabler of us realising our modal shift ambitions.\u201d Hastings makes his statement as the sector faces challenging times, not least the British economic circumstances, which are placing pressure on growth and sustainability<\/a>. venues like the new Northampton Gateway Terminal<\/a>, where the RFG held their AGM, represent the cutting edge of progress for the sector.<\/p>\n

Strengthening the sector\u2019s voice<\/h2>\n

Maggie Simpson OBE, RFG Director General, welcomed both appointments: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to welcome Ralph to the Board and to confirm Richard\u2019s re-appointment. They each bring a great deal of experience, expertise and new perspectives on the rail freight sector. Their insights will be invaluable as we continue to make the case for rail freight growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rail Freight Group<\/a> represents the interests of the UK\u2019s rail freight sector, with members spanning operators, logistics providers, ports, equipment suppliers, property developers and major freight customers. The organisation\u2019s mission is to increase the volume of goods moved by rail and to promote the environmental, economic and network benefits of rail freight across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two heads are better than one, they say. So Rail Freight Group (RFG) has drawn on the services of two heads of industry for their\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[18815,336,78,109,47,1339,18816,85],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-319152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northampton-gateway-terminal","category-policy","category-rail-freight","category-rail-freight-group","category-rail-news","category-ralph-goldney","category-richard-hastings","category-uk","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319152","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"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319152"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319182,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319152\/revisions\/319182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}