Mark George has been appointed as President & Chief Executive Officer of Norfolk Southern with effect from September 11. Previously Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, he succeeds Alan Shaw, whose contract was terminated following an investigation into a reported ‘consensual relationship’ with the company’s Executive Vice-President Corporate Affairs, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, Nabanita Nag, who has also been dismissed. Jason Zampi will take over as acting Chief Financial Officer, while Jason Morris will serve as acting Corporate Secretary.
CFL Multimodal is to launch a thrice-weekly rail service between the Bettembourg-Dudelange terminal in Luxembourg and Railport Arad at Curtici in Romania on October 8, enabling shippers to avoid road congestion at the Hungarian-Romanian border. CFL Cargo and Ecco Rail will provide traction. ‘We see this opportunity not just as a simple link between Bettembourg-Dudelange and Curtici, but also as a more ambitious project linking Romania and the Benelux countries, as well as Turkey and the Balkans to whestern Europe’, said Sven Löffler, Chief Commercial Officer at CFL Multimodal.
Lineas and ECS have launched of a three times per week intermodal train between Zeebrugge and Crailsheim near Stuttgart, with sea connections to the UK and Ireland. The 751 km route is covered in 24 h.
On September 1 Łukasz Grzesło was appointed Chairman of PKP Cargo International, a Czech-based subsidiary of the Polish freight operator. He replaces Zbigniew Prus. Michal Kubíček is Deputy Chairman, replacing Jerzy Woszczyna.
Nine European Co-ordinators have been designated to help complete the Trans-European Transport Network: seven will be in charge of European Transport Corridors: Carlo Secchi for the Atlantic corridor; Anne Elisabet Jensen for the Baltic Sea–Adriatic Sea corridor; Mathieu Grosch for the Mediterranean corridor; Catherine Trautmann for the North Sea Baltic corridor; Paweł Wojciechowski for the North Sea–Rhine–Mediterranean corridor; Pat Cox for the Scandinavian–Mediterranean corridor; and Marian-Jean Marinescu for the Western Balkan–Eastern Mediterranean corridor. Two co-ordinators have also been appointed to lead related ‘cross-cutting priorities’: Matthias Ruete for the ERTMS and Gesine Meissner for the European Maritime Space. All mandates are for four years from September 10, and are renewable. Co-ordinators for the Baltic Sea-Black Sea-Aegean Sea corridor and the Rhine-Danube corridor will be designated and appointed in early 2025.
On September 10 the European Rail Freight Association elected Europorte Chairman Raphaël Doutrebente and Denny Jünemann of German association Die Güterbahnen to the board for two-year terms. The terms of François Coart of Europorte, Matthias Knüpling of VTG and Wolfgang Groß of Die Güterbahnen have ended.
TCI Tank Logistics is to invest $2m in a 400 m rail connection with the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad to serve customers at the port of New Orleans. The project is expected to be completed in April 2025.