Jim Crawford joins as programme director for phase one. At Network Rail he worked as major programme director for the £6.5bn congestion-busting Thameslink upgrade.

Crawford, 48, has worked on the railway since 1994 as a consultant working for Turner & Townsend.

HS2 Ltd Construction CEO Simon Kirby said: “Building Britain’s much-needed high speed rail network will be a major undertaking and we need the best people to help deliver it on schedule and within the budget we have been set.

“Jim Crawford‘s experience speaks for itself but I know just how capable he is from our time together at Network Rail working on the multi-billion pound investment in Thameslink.

“I am very pleased that someone of Jim’s calibre is joining us as we have much to do between now and when we expect to have spades in the ground in 2017.”

Crawford took over the Thameslink programme in 2009 delivering some notable milestones, including the rebuilding of London Blackfriars and Farringdon stations.

At HS2 Ltd he will be completing the set up of the team that will be responsible for the delivery of the multi-billion pound construction programme for the first phase of the new high speed rail network between London and West Midlands.

The exodus of senior Network Rail bosses started after chief executive Sir David Higgins stood down to lead the HS2 project at the start of this year.

He was followed by Network Rail’s managing director of infrastructure projects Simon Kirby, who will join HS2 as CEO for the project’s construction phase.

Away from the HS2 project, Network Rail infrastructure’s finance boss David McLoughlin also handed in his notice at the start of the year to run contractor Spencer Rail in July.

Even more recently Simon Wright OBE, currently project development director at Network Rail, has accepted the job to become Crossrail’s new programme director this summer.