James Rooney has been appointed head of road fleet at Network Rail, taking charge of the company’s 9,800-strong fleet.

Rooney joins Network Rail after almost 10 years with British Gas, having joined the utility company’s fleet department as a graduate in 2014.

He told Fleet News that Network Rail provided the “opportunity to get another fleet to decarbonise, a more complicated fleet with bigger opportunities for a mix of solutions”.

The ability to effect change quickly, also appealed to the former British Gas man, who takes charge of a 14-strong team.

The Network Rail road fleet consists of 800 cars, 8,200 light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and 4x4s and 800 trucks.

In terms of priorities in his new fleet role, Rooney said that decarbonisation, electric vehicle (EV) rollout (with charging infrastructure installations) with better end user experience and compliance, were among his key priorities.