LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Britain's Network Rail on Thursday said Mark Carne, a former Royal DutchShell executive, would become its next chief executive.
The company, which manages the UK's railways, said Carnewould join on Jan. 6, 2014 before formally taking over as chiefexecutive from David Higgins on April 1.
Carne, who has also worked for BG Group in Europe andcentral Asia, spent more than 20 years at Shell, most recentlyserving as its executive vice president for the Middle East andNorth Africa.
Prior to that, 54-year-old Carne was in charge of Shell'soil and gas platforms in the North Sea and helped lead thecompany's response to the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea.
"Through his work with Shell and BG Group in very testingand difficult environments, Mark Carne has shown that he has thenecessary skill and global experience to build on, and developfurther, what Network Rail has already achieved in meeting thesechallenges under the leadership of David Higgins," Network Railsaid in a statement.
Network Rail has faced repeated criticism in recent yearsfor failing to meet punctuality targets and has been slammed byunions for overpaying its executives.
The company said Carne's base salary would be 675,000 pounds($1.05 million) which was determined following an "exhaustiveand independent process" that compared the salaries of chiefexecutives in both the public and private sectors.
The company said Carne's remuneration package overall wouldnot exceed that of the current CEO and that Carne will not takeany potential annual incentive payment for 2013/14.
Higgins earns a current base salary of 577,000 pounds plus abonus of around 99,000 pounds.
