ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan is to retire from the train drivers’ union.

He informed the union’s executive committee that he will step down on Monday.

Mr Whelan, 65, has headed Aslef since 2011.

By going a little earlier than he has to — he does not have to stand down until September 30 2026 — he can help oversee a seamless and orderly transition, he told Morning Star editor Ben Chacko.

A source close to the union said: “Mick has transformed the fortunes of Aslef.

“He took over in the wake of the Shaun Brady debacle, when morale and finances were at a very low ebb.

“Keith Norman steadied the ship, and then Mick set the union on its present progressive and successful path.

“He has re-engaged with other trade unions in the labour movement, re-engaged with the Labour Party, won every industrial dispute during his term in office, spoken out at the Big Meeting, and Tolpuddle, and at many a Morning Star rally.”

Mr Whelan, the son of Irish immigrants, began working in the rail industry as a guard on British Rail’s Midland region in 1984.

He joined Aslef when he became a freight train driver in 1988, and was elected as the union’s full-time Midlands regional organiser in 2000.

He was first elected general secretary in 2011, and re-elected in 2016 and 2021.

Nominations for his successor are due to close at the end of September. The new general secretary is expected to be announced by Christmas.