"Robert David Holden" CBE is a British accountant, born in Manchester. He holds a degree in Economics from Lancaster University.

Holden initially worked at the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, working on Trident.

In 1996, Holden became finance director of London and Continental Railways ("LCR") and soon moved on to chief executive and chairman of LCR and also Eurostar. He oversaw the two phase construction of a high speed railway line from the Channel Tunnel to London at a cost of over £5b. The first phase, which terminated at Waterloo Station opened in 2003.

The second phase, from Ebbsfleet, Thanet/Ebbsfleet, Kent, into St Pancras Station was opened as High Speed One on 6 November 2007. The grand opening of St Pancras station was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and the prime minister, Gordon Brown.

In 2009 Holden was awarded the CBE and appointed chief executive of Crossrail, building a new train line across London.

Rob Holden took home £554,495 in pay and benefits, more than £160,000 above the pay package received by TfL commissioner Peter Hendy, who has refused to take his £132,409 bonus. (thisislondon.co.uk)

More Rob Holden on Wikipedia.

Many people out there, we are not going to get to in time.

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People are out in the open. You and I know, we're standing here, it's getting cold, we're getting wet, we can go to a tent in a moment. The people out in these villages cannot.

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Some people who have injuries don't have a chance of survival.

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No one is giving up, but it is the acceptance that the actual real chances of finding someone alive are almost nil.

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The fact that people are dying should be catalyst enough to scale up relief efforts and put pressure on aid agencies.

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