Chiltern Railways managing director Cath Proctor is leaving the company next month to go travelling.
She will continue as general manager and deputy chairman until 31 August. Chairman Adrian Shooter has stepped in as acting managing director until a replacement is found for Ms Proctor.
Members of staff said the announcement on 15 June that she was standing down three days later came as a surprise to employees, but Chiltern said she had had personal ambitions she wanted to pursue for some time.
Ms Proctor was made managing director of Chiltern Railways in February 2004 after joining the line as an area retail manager in 1994 under British Rail, which she joined as a management trainee two years earlier.
She became director of marketing in 1999 and sales and marketing director three years later.
A company statement said she had been a “strategic driving force” and an “inspiration to staff” during her 15-year career in the rail industry.
It praised her handling of the aftermath of the “Tesco tunnel” collapse at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, which the company took a year to recover from.
She had put the company on the road to recovery and it was now financially stable and growing, with passenger satisfaction at its highest for six years, the statement said.
Ms Proctor said: “I feel enormously proud of all that we have achieved at Chiltern Railways and the way we have recovered ourselves after some very difficult times. This has not been an easy decision. This company and its staff have been important to me for a very long time. I wish them all the best in achieving what I know will be a very exciting and successful future.”
She is understood to be planning to look for a post outside the rail industry after taking a career break to go travelling.
A company spokesman said she was staying on for two months as general manager and Mr Shooter was taking over as managing director to ensure that lines of accountability were clear.
