Ian Longworth to retire from Isle of Man Transport

Ian Longworth, the long standing Director of Transport Services on the Isle of Man, is to retire. In a statement released on 14th June, the Department of Infrastructure made the announcement that he is to leave his role after over 10 years in position.

Mr Longworth was originally appointed as Director of Public Transport in April 2009 and initially remained in this role until January 2019 when he moved into a temporary job as Lead of Transport Projects. At the time it was thought this would lead to his full retirement but in January 2020 he moved back into the Director of Public Transport role. However, he has now made the decision to retire fully.

A statement from the Department of Infrastructure said: “The Director of Transport Services, Ian Longworth, has today announced his intention to retire as he has now reached the traditional retirement age. He had planned to retire previously and had been working part time prior to Covid. He returned to work full time during Covid but with the TT behind us now is the right time for him to step down. During his tenure bus passengers have significantly increased and have bounced back now to pre-Covid levels.  Similarly in the same time frame the railway passengers have also increased and a lot of work gone on to catch up on the backlog of maintenance.”

Emily Curphey, Interim CEO at the DOI, said: “I would like to thank Ian for his hard work and dedication within the Department and throughout his career. I wish him well in his retirement.”

During his period in control the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway has come under the control of the Isle of Man government transport operations whilst the Manx Electric Railway has seen major investment in both the infrastructure and the vehicles which operate the service. It hasn’t all been plain sailing though with some of the more negative occurrences being seen on the Snaefell Mountain Railway including the runaway incident which resulted in 3 being destroyed after derailing.

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