Edward A Burkhardt has resigned as Chairman, President, & Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Central Transportation Corp with effect from August 31 (p481). He is succeeded by Thomas F Power Jr, WC’s Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer for the past 12 years. J Reilly McCarren becomes President & CEOof the company’s North American subsidiaries, including Wisconsin Central Ltd.
René Hellinghausen, Deputy Chief Executive of Luxembourg Railways, who was elected Chairman of Intercontainer-Interfrigo in June, has also become Managing Director of ICF, in place of Søren Rasmussen who resigned on July 12.
Peter Reinhardt, German Railway’s Board Member for Stations, Property & Legal Affairs, retired on July 31. He is to be succeeded by Dieter Ullsperger, General Manager of DB Station & Service AG.
Gilles Ricono has been named Director of the Cabinet of French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot, replacing Francis Rol Tanguy.
Haydn Abbott has been appointed Managing Director of British rolling stock leasing company Angel Train Contracts.
Ronald J Conway was named President of CSX Transportation on July 14, succeeding A R ’Pete’ Carpenter who became Vice-Chairman of CSX Corp on the same day. Formerly Senior Vice-President of Conrail, Conway joined CSXT as Executive Vice President & Chief Operatings Officer in 1998. Gary M Spiegel becomes Senior Vice-President, Operations, Paul D Sandler is named Senior Vice-President, Corporate Services, and Dale R Hawk becomes Senior Vice-President, Automotive Services Group.
Josef Simlovic has been named Director of Freight for Slovak Republic Railways, in succession to Pavol Stetulic.
Mike Baxter has been appointed Chief Director, Track & Depot Procurement, for Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.
Steinar Killi has been named as President of Norwegian rail infrastructure authority Jernebaneverket, with effect from July 1. He succeeds Osmund Ueland, who remains Managing Director of NSB BA.
Russia’s First Vice-Minister of Railways Valeri I Kovalyov has been installed as Rector of the St Petersburg Railway University. Alexander V Annenkov becomes Vice-Minister responsible for Freight Operations & Commercial Activities, while Yevgeni N Vinogradov becomes Vice-Minister responsible for Locomotive & Rolling Stock Maintenance & Repairs.
Annette Zimmerli has been named to head Swiss Federal Railways’ new Corporate Risk Management department, which was set up with effect from July 1.
Valentin A Gapanovich has been appointed Vice-President of Russia’s West Siberian Railway in Novosibirsk. Gennadi E Ivankin becomes Vice-President of the South Eastern Railway in Voronezh.
Spanish conservative politician Loyola de Palacio has been appointed as European Commissioner for Transport, Energy & Relations. She takes over the transport brief from Neil Kinnock who is now the Commissioner responsible for EU Reform.
Ray O’Toole has joined National Express Group in the new position of Chief Operating Officer. He will be joined on the NEG board by Richard Brown, currently Managing Director of the Trains Division, who becomes Group Commercial Director. Deputy Chief Executive & Finance Director Colin Child resigned from NEG with effect from July 31. Peter Strachan, Train Service Director at Midland Main Line, has been named Chief Executive of the Rail Division of National Express Australia (p488). Russell Nathan becomes Managing Director at Swanston Trams, and Geoff Tighe is named Managing Director of V/Line Passenger.
Harri Alanko takes over as Director of Supply at Finnish Railways, VR Group Ltd, on August 16. Currently Head of Signalling Systems at VR Track Ltd, he succeeds Veijo Koskinen, who is to become Managing Director of Electric Rails Ltd.
On June 23 the US Senate Commerce Committee approved the nomination of Sylvia DeLeon to the last remaining vacancy on the Amtrak board of directors.
Graham Roberts has become Chief Executive of British franchise operator MTL Services, which runs Merseyrail Electrics and Regional Railways North East. He succeeds Peter Coombes, who became Chairman last year.
Jacques Berducou, who as SNCF’s Director of Ile de France services in 1987-93 was a prime mover in the Eole project, died on July 11, the day before the line was opened.
Announcing on July 20 that Britain’s Office of Passenger Rail Franchising would now operate as the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (p484) under British Railways Board Chairman Sir Alastair Morton, SSRA Chief Executive Mike Grant set out his senior management team. Chris Stokes becomes Executive Director, Strategic Development, with Nick Newton responsible for Franchise Management and David Revolta for Finance & Administration. Executive Directors for Technical Services and External Relations are still to be recruited. Terence Jenner becomes SSRA Solicitor, joining Freight Director Julia Clarke and European Rail Relations Manager Agnes Bonnet. BRB residuary functions have been delegated to an Executive Committee chaired by BRB Vice-Chairman James Jerram.
Tom Winsor took over as Britain’s Rail Regulator with effect from July 5. A partner in law firm Denton Hall since 1991, he was seconded to the Office of the Rail Regulator in 1993-95 as Chief Legal Adviser and later General Counsel.
