Sir Charles Wilfrid Newton (11 December 1928 – 28 November 2012) was the managing director of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 chairman of

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 operation ...

in the 1990s.

History

Charles Wilfrid Newton was born on 11 December 1928 in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and was educated at schools in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and the

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

. 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, Newton 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 A statutory corporation is a corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

to build and operate a

mass transit system Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

for the then British colony. The MTR had just opened its first railway line connecting

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

in 1979. Newton led the building of a new line on Hong Kong island itself – the Island line, which connected the

Central district Central District may refer to: Places * Central District (Botswana) * Central district, Plovdiv, Bulgaria * Central District, Xiamen, China, now Siming District, Fujian * Central, Hong Kong, also called Central District * List of Central District ...

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 ar ...

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

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

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 Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to oth ...

including shopping malls and development built over railway depots (such as

Telford Gardens __NOTOC__ 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 ...

), the MTR was being run without government subsidies. 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 su ...

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

London and London Regional Transport

In December 1988, the British

Secretary of State for Transport The secretary of state for transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Departm ...

Paul Channon Henry Paul Guinness Channon, Baron Kelvedon, (9 October 1935 – 27 January 2007) was Conservative MP for Southend West for 38 years, from 1959 until 1997. He served in various ministerial offices, and was a Cabinet minister for 3½ years, as ...

announced that Newton would join

, following the resignation of

Sir Keith Bright Sir Keith Bright (30 August 1931 – 20 January 2021) was Chairman of London Regional Transport in the 1980s. He resigned following the Fennell Report into the King's Cross fire in 1988, that criticised the management of London Underground and Lo ...

. In March 1989, Newton became chairman and chief executive of London Regional Transport, and chairman of

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

. Newton's major project was the implementation of the

Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground's 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 Dockland ...

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

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

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 th ...

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

King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire occurred in 1987 at King's Cross St Pancras tube station in London, England, causing 31 fatalities. It began under a wooden escalator before spreading into the ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately ...

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 between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

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; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

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. In 1994, Newton was due to retire. However, his chosen replacement – the deputy chairman of London Transport, Alan Watkins, was vetoed by the

in March 1994, due to Watkins involvement in campaigning for more investment in London Underground. Newton was therefore unable to step down as Chairman of London Transport until a more suitable candidate was agreed. Newton eventually stepped down in September 1994, replaced by Peter Ford.

Honours

Owing to Newton's work in Hong Kong, he was appointed

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1988, before being

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1993. In 1993 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

Death

Newton died on 28 November 2012, aged 83.

References