Jaroslav Vrana has been named Director of Railways for the Czech Ministry of Transport, replacing Karel Sellner. He also becomes Chairman of Czech State Railways (CD), replacing Ivan Foltyn. Dalibor Zeleny has been appointed General Manager of CD, replacing Vladimir Sosna.
Dr Chris Whitaker is to chair the five-member task force set up to manage the sale of Australia’s Westrail Freight.
Albert Vilalta, President of Spanish high-speed rail infrastructure authority GIF, has been named Secretary of State for Infrastructure, responsible for roads, railways and other transport activities. He becomes a board member of Renfe.
Britt Wissing has been appointed General Manager of Swedish State Railway’s Finance department.
David Marchant has been named Chief Executive of Australian Rail Track Corp.
James Hankla, the former City Manager of Long Beach, has been appointed Chief Executive of Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.
Paul Miller has been elected Chairman of the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority in Seattle.
Swiss Federal Railways’ board has been completely reformed. The new President of SBB is Thierry Lalive d’Epinay who replaces Jules Kyburz. New board members are Hans Bieri, Hanspeter Brändli, Mario Fontana, Yvette Jaggi, Beth Krasna, Paul Otth, Paul Reutlinger, and Ulrich Sinzig.
Werner Rohre has been appointed General Manager & Operations Director of Frankfurt Transport. Manfred Ott has been named Commercial Director.
Jean-Pierre Ruiz Guerrero has been appointed Director-General of US-based Talgo Inc.
Eric Baudonnet has been named Head of the office of SNCF President Louis Gallois. He replaces Christian Cochet who has become Director of SNCF’s Lille region.
Elliott T Shepherd of Gannett Fleming Inc has been appointed Project Manager, Construction Management on the Canal Street tramway project in New Orleans.
Mike Etwell, Director Engineering of Eurostar (UK) and Tony Roche, British Railways Board Member for Engineering Services & Safety, retired inSeptember.
Joseph B Doherty has been named Treasurer of RailAmerica Inc.
Dr Victor Velaphi Mkhize has been appointed Manager of Corporate Affairs for Spoornet.
Michael G Peterson has been appointed Senior Vice President, Operations for CSX Intermodal. He replaces Frank K Turner.
P G Korotkevich has been appointed Director of Finance for Russian Railways. P P Shmarov becomes Director of Economics. A S Bogatyryov has been named Vice-President of North Caucasian Railway and V Y Petrov becomes Vice-President of East Siberian Railway.
Joseph Giulietti has been appointed Deputy Executive Director of Florida’s Tri-Rail. Dennis Newjahr has become Director of Planning & Capital Development. Rick Wolfe will head the Contracts Adminstration & Procurement Department. Jon Schlegel has been promoted to Director of Operations.
Union Pacific has appointed three vice presidents to head its three new operating regions (p633). Mike Kelly, Vice President, Marketing, takes the Northern Region in Omaha; Jeff Verhall, currently General Manager of the Western Region, will be Vice-President of that area with headquarters in Roseville, California; and Steve Barkley will be in charge of the Southern Region stationed in Houston. Brad King has been named head of UP’s new Network Design & Integration organisation, and Dennis Duffy has been appointed to lead the Operating Department.
