Railways head retires

Press, 13 April 1987, Page 2

Railways head retires

PA Wellington The Railways Corporation general manager, Mr Gordon Purdy, retired on Friday after leading the corporation through its biggest period of change and turbulence. Mr Purdy has declined interviews on his retirement, prefering to end his 36 years with the Railways quietly after the controversy that peppered his three years as general manager.

Mr Purdy, the son of a railwayman, began work with the Railways as a clerical cadet and worked his way to the top post through the personnel offices. He became general manager as corporatisation and deregulation of road transport were making their full weight felt.

Both moves, heralded in by the National Government, resulted in spiralling losses for the new corporation and demanded a shuffle of management and the way the Railways went about and financed its business.

Mr Purdy has overseen the voluntary redundancy and severance of about a third of his staff from the more than 20,000 employed before corporatisation. In a recent interview with the Railways staff magazine, Mr Purdy urged staff to adopt the attitude that railways would survive.

Mr Purdy’s deputy, Mr Kevin Hyde, has become general manager. Mr Hyde, a lawyer, joined the Railways legal division in 1969