Hyde replaces Bob Clarke, 49, who will stay on the board with responsibility for technical development and engineering.
Hyde, 54, brings international experience of the privatised rail industry. He was made chief executive officer of the New Zealand Railway Corporation on its privatisation in 1987, before he joined the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation as chief executive in 1990.
In 1996, Hyde joined ABB Daimler Benz Transportation in Berlin as executive vice-president and member of the group executive board. Hyde said: "From what I've seen of Jarvis in the two weeks I've been here, it's an extremely good supplier of services and is professionally very competent. I think it has everything going for it to be a world leader in infrastructure maintenance.
"But we live and breathe by the key performance indicators provided by Railtrack – which monitors our performance – and that is where our opportunities lie." Jarvis has been under the spotlight in recent months after trouble over the renewal of rail contracts with Railtrack sliced a third off the value of its shares.
After the dispute had been resolved, the shares rose sharply again in the middle of August. Last Friday, Jarvis' shares rose a more than 10% to 288p. Despite rumours of impending corporate activity, analysts said this was a response to the construction sector's recovery after being hit by the rise in interest rates.
