He was formerly the group director of signalling and power asset management and takes up the top job answering to chief executive David Higgins immediately.

Before joining Network Rail five years ago, chartered chemical engineer England was also at helm of projects at the Highways Agency and Thames Water.

Before that he worked in process engineering with Parsons, Matthew Hall and Kellogg.

England said: “I’m looking forward to taking on this challenge and managing one of the most extensive and historic asset bases in the world.

“We have shown our ability to deliver projects to improve the nation’s rail infrastructure over the past few years and it promises to be even busier in the coming decade.

Chief executive David Higgins said: “Jerry England’s experience within Network Rail as director of engineering, and latterly signal and power asset management, stands him in good stead for taking charge of our infrastructure.

“One of his first steps will be to build on the post-devolution team to deliver a leadership structure closely aligned with customer-focused service.”