The general assembly of the Community of European Railway & Infrastructure Companies has confirmed the appointment of Netherlands Railways Chief Executive Aad Veenman to a second term as Chairman. CEO of Slovak infrastructure manager ZSR, Dalibor Zeleny, was elected Vice-Chairman, while Antoine Hurel, Deputy CEO of Veolia Transport, and Mauro Moretti, CEO of Italy's FS, were re-elected as Vice-Chairmen. The CER management committee for 2007-08 comprises Roger Cobbe, Policy Director of Arriva Trains; Jannie Haek, CEO of SNCB Holding; István Heinczinger, CEO of MÁV; Martin Huber, CEO of ÖBB; Anne-Marie Idrac, President of SNCF; Jan Komárek, Director-General of Czech infrastructure manager SŽDC; Constantin Manea, Director-General of Romania's CFR; Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of Deutsche Bahn; Jan Sundling, Chairman of the Association of Swedish Train Operating Companies; and Andrzej Wach, President & CEO of Poland's PKP. Francisco José Cardoso dos Reis, President of the Board of Directors of Portuguese national operator CP, is an associate member.
On November 16 Poland's ministries of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy were combined to form the Ministry of Infrastructure headed by Cezary Grabarczyk. Juliusz Engelhardt has suceeded Miroslaw Chaberek as Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for railways.
Following the recent election, on December 3 Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Minister in Australia's newly-formed Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development & Local Government. Gary Gray is Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport & Regional Development.
Pakistan's caretaker government includes Tariq Mansoor as Minister for Railways, replacing Sheikh Rashid Ahmad. Former Chief Controller of purchasing Irfan Gophar has been appointed Chief Electrical Engineer at PR, succeeding Saeed Khan.
Artur Filipe de Silva has been appointed Cabinet Chief at Portugal's Ministry of Public Works, Transport & Communications.
In November Tomaz Schara was appointed Director-General of Slovenian national operator SZ, succeeding Peter Puhan.
Francis Mulvey has been nominated by President Bush to serve another five-year term as a member of the USA's Surface Transportation Board.
CD President Josef Bazala has been appointed Chairman & General Manager of CD Cargo, the freight division which was established as a wholly-owned CD subsidiary on December 1 (RG 12.07 p745). Jaroslav Richter, Rodan Senekl, Bogdan Heczko and Petr Zaluda have been appointed members of the Executive Board. Oldrich Vojír becomes Chairman of CD Cargo's supervisory board.
Russian Railways has appointed Victor Alekseyevich Popov as Head of Inspection, with former Head of the Stations Board Victor Grigorevich Budovskiy as his deputy. Sergey Borisovich now heads the Stations Board.
Arriva has confirmed the appointment of Andy Cooper as Managing Director of its CrossCountry franchise in the UK, a role he has held on an interim basis since October 1. Tim Bell has been named Managing Director of Arriva Trains Wales.
On December 10 Camila Merino took up the post of General Manager at Metro SA, metro operator in the Chilean capital Santiago. Formerly Vice-President, Administration, at mining company SQM, she succeeds Interim General Manager Hernán Vega who returns to the post of Administration & Finance Manager.
Transport policy consultant and an Amtrak board member since July 2006, Donna McLean has been appointed as Chairman of the US passenger operator's board of directors, replacing David Laney, whom President Bush did not nominate for a second term. Bush has nominated Thomas Carper, Nancy Naples and Denver Stutler Jr to fill vacant positions on the board.
On December 9 National Express Group took over Britain's InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER (p7). National Express East Coast is headed by Managing Director David Franks, Head of the Trains Division at National Express Group plc. Sales & Marketing Director Rachel Dawson joins NXEC from Midland Main Line where she held the same post. Helen Thornton of GNER has been appointed Customer Service Director, and is succeeded in her former role of Human Resources Director by Andy Meadows who was HR Director at One. Reporting directly to Franks, Head of Safety Sharon Vye Parminter formerly held this position at NEG's Londonlines business, responsible for the c2c, Gatwick Express and Silverlink train operating companies. GNER's Production Director Richard McLean remains in post, as do Finance Director Tom Fielden, Legal Director Janet Huck and Head of Communications Alan Hyde. The new team is supported by Richard Smith who has been leading mobilisation for NEG.
On January 1 Rail4chem Managing Director Markus Bertram succeeded Sven Flore as President of freight operators' alliance European Bulls. Dr Georg Pammer becomes Vice-President, while Hartmut Gasser retired as Managing Director on November 30.
Larry E Salci has resigned as Executive Director of Metro St Louis.
Dr André Zeug becomes Chairman of DB Station & Service from January 1.
The government of Québec has appointed Joël Gauthier to a second four-year term as President & CEO of Montréal transport agency AMT.
