He was Chief Executive of the London 2012 Summer Olympics Delivery Authority[4] and Network Rail.

[6] After graduation, he worked in the United Kingdom and Africa, before returning to Australia in 1983, and joining Lendlease in 1985.

[9] On 28 September 2010, it was announced that he was leaving the Olympic Delivery Authority to take up the role of chief executive of Network Rail, taking over from outgoing chief executive Iain Coucher, and with effect from February 2011.

[5] Higgins was widely respected for his work at Network Rail, including by the railway trade unions; he was succeeded as chief executive by Mark Carne in April 2014.

At HS2, he successfully oversaw the introduction and subsequent passing of the 400-page London-Birmingham High Speed Rail hybrid bill enabling the compulsory purchase and land acquisition for securing the chosen alignment.