Sir Charles Wilfrid Newton,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(11 December 1928 – 28 November 2012) was managing director of Hong Kong's

Mass Transit Railway Corporation MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hong ...

(MTRC) in the 1980s and

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

in the 1990s.

History

Charles Wilfrid Newton was born on 11 December 1928 in South Africa, and was educated at schools in Johannesburg and the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

. Starting out as an accountant in industry, he became group managing director, and subsequently the chief executive of

Turner & Newall Turner & Newall was a manufacturing business based in Manchester, United Kingdom. At its peak, it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. As part of their business, the company was one of the first ...

Hong Kong and MTR

In March 1983, he left Turner & Newall to join the Hong Kong's

(MTRC) as chairman and chief executive. The MTR was founded in 1975 as a government owned statutory corporation to build and operate a mass transit system for the then British colony. The MTR had just opened its first railway line connecting Hong Kong Island to Kowloon in 1979. Newton led the building of a new line on Hong Kong island itself – the

Island line Island Line or Island line may refer to: * Island line (MTR), one of the lines of the MTR metro system in Hong Kong * Island Line, Isle of Wight, a railway line on the Isle of Wight, England ** Island Line (brand) Island Line is a brand of the ...

, which connected the Central district to

Chai Wan Chai Wan (; ), formerly known as Sai Wan (西灣), lies at the east end of the urban area of Hong Kong Island next to Shau Kei Wan. The area is administratively part of the Eastern District, and is a mosaic of industrial and residential are ...

. In May 1985, Newton presided over the opening ceremony of the line at Tai Koo, with a plaque unveiled by

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...

Sir Edward Youde. Following this, a second harbour tunnel to carry increased numbers of passenger traffic opened in 1989. Thanks to high ridership and property development including shopping malls and development built over railway depots (such as

Telford Gardens Telford Gardens (often referred to as "Telford Garden") is a private housing estate located above the MTR Kowloon Bay Depot and alongside Kowloon Bay station in Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was jointly built by Hang Lung Properties ...

) – the MTR was being run without government subsidy. Newton also chaired the

Hong Kong Futures Exchange Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) is a futures exchange in Hong Kong. Established in 1976, it offered a variety of options and futures contracts, linked to stock market indices, stocks, short-term interest rates, and foreign exchange. HKFE is a s ...

from 1986 to 1989, as well as becoming a non-executive director of HongkongBank.

London and London Regional Transport

In 1989, Newton was invited to become chairman and chief executive of

, and chairman of

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

. Newton's major project was the implementation of the

Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the line was first proposed in the 1970s. As part of the development of London Docklands, ...

– the first major extension to the Underground in 20 years. Experts from Hong Kong including MTR architect

Roland Paoletti Romano Roland Paoletti, CBE (23 April 1931 – 13 November 2013) was a British-Italian architect. He was best known for his work on the early stations for Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway, and for commissioning the award-winning designs of the ...

were recruited to progress the multibillion-pound project – which eventually opened in 1999. Following the

King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire was a 1987 fire in a London Underground station with 31 fatalities, after a fire under a wooden escalator suddenly spread into the underground ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately 19:30 on 18 Novembe ...

in 1987, the state of neglect on the Tube and complacency of London Underground was criticised, with the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

nicknamed "the Misery line". Newton branded the Tube network "an appalling shambles" at a seminar on the future of London in 1991, noting that "The infrastructure has been neglected for 30 years". Newton subsequently planned a transformation of London Underground into a 'decently modern metro' over a period of 10 years, with upgrades to existing lines and strong service standards. However the recession in the early 1990s cut ticket revenue, which was exacerbated by stop-go investment and

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

budget cuts by around 30 per cent between 1993 and 1996 – making it difficult to progress the upgrade programme. Following the Autumn statement in 1992, Newton was said to have had "a rare public outburst of anger" following a broken promise by the Government to increase investment to more than £700m a year. By March 1993, Newton authorised managers to blame deteriorating services and cancellations on broken Government pledges. Newton himself appeared on television after the November 1993 Budget and criticised the funding of London Regional Transport. Due to retire at 65, Newton was unable to step down as Chairman of London Transport in 1994 as the Treasury vetoed his chosen replacement. Newton eventually stepped down in September 1994, replaced by Peter Ford.

Honours

Owing to his work in Hong Kong, he was appointed CBE in 1988, before being knighted in 1993.

Death

He died on 28 November 2012, aged 83.

References