John Christopher Paul Edmonds was born in 1936 and studied at the University of Cambridge. He joined British Rail: London Midland Region as a Management Trainee in 1960. He went on to be appointed as the Sector Director for Other Provincial Services in 1982. He moved to be the General Manager of British Rail: Anglia Region in 1987 and in 1989 was appointed as the Board Member for Reorganisation on British Railways Board. At privatisation he served as the Chief Executive of Railtrack from 1994 to 1997. He passed away in 2020.