Dean Finch gets the hot seat at troubled National Express

Dean Finch, the boss of Tube Lines, the London Underground maintenance company, is set to become the new chief executive of troubled bus and train operator National Express.

Finch, who was forced recently to admit that work on upgrading the Jubilee line will over-run by almost a year and cost the company an extra £100 million, has only been at Tube Lines for seven months.

His appointment follows the resignation of former chief executive Richard Bowker in July when he said National Express could no longer afford to run the loss-making East Coast railway line.

The London to Edinburgh rail service was taken back into public ownership last month.

Finch spent 10 years at rival transport concern First Group where he was finance director and then chief operating officer before his move to Tube Lines.

National Express has recently been the subject of three unsuccessful takeover bids. Two of them were backed by its largest shareholder and deputy chairman Jorge Cosmen, who sold his Spanish coach and bus business to the group.

National Express is in the middle of a £360 million discounted rights issue which closes in a week's time. Although the issue has won investors' approval, it is not supported by Cosmen who has steadily increased his stake in the business to 19%.