On September 14, the Chairman of the German Railway Supervisory Board, Dr Dieter Vogel, announced that Hartmut Mehdorn will be taking over as Chairman of the DB Management Board with effect from January 1. Formerly Chairman of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, he will succeed Dr Johannes Ludewig. At the same time, Dr Axel Nawrocki will step down as Chairman of DB Reise&Touristik AG, being succeeded by Development Director Dr Christoph Franz.
Ken Bloch Sørensen has resigned as Director of SBB Cargo and a member of the Board of Management; he will join a global container and logistics company.
Railtrack Deputy Performance Director Andy Cooper takes over this month as Managing Director of National Express Group’s Central Trains franchise in Britain, replacing Nick Brown who is becoming Chief Executive of NEG’s Bus Division.
Eng Abbas Ghorbanali Beik has been appointed General Director, Way & Works, for Iranian Islamic Republic Railways. He is succeeded as Director of the RAI Research Centre by Dr Alireza Jahangirian. Abbas Haghdin becomes Deputy Vice-President, Technical & Infrastructure, and Eng Ali Tavasolian becomes Regional Manager for the Hormozgan region in Bandar Abbas.
On August 31 Wisconsin Central announced wide-ranging management changes following the departure of Ed Burkhardt (RG 8.99 p481). Robert Wheeler, a WC director since 1987, has been named non-executive Chairman, and is replaced as General Counsel by Thomas Rissman. Ronald Russ becomes Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, succeeding co-founder Thomas F Power Jr, who is the new President & CEO. James E Fisk is named Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, a new position, and is joined by Vice Presidents John L Bradshaw and Earl J Currie to form a new Corporate Development Group. Michael W Franke, who joined WCTC in June as Executive Vice-President, has also resigned.
Bronwyn Morris has been appointed to chair the Queensland Rail Board following the retirement of Neville Blunt.
Reinhardt Klimmt has been appointed Federal Transport Minister in Germany, succeeding Franz Müntefering who has become General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Dragutin Subat has been named General Manager of Croatian Railways, becoming the ninth HZ General Manager since 1990. Formerly Vice-Minister of Transport, he exchanges places with Marijan Klaric. Former Infrastructure Manager Zlatko Dokaza becomes Deputy General Manager in succession to Durica Misin. Vjekoslav Mihalj has taken over as Finance Director in place of Mirjana Pejkovic. Davorin Kobak becomes Executive Manager, Commercial, in the new Traffic department, with Damir Tot as Manager, Rolling Stock. Vlatko Susanj becomes Executive Manager of the Infrastructure department, with Damir Grgic as Manager, Traffic Regulation.
Jonas Puluikis has been appointed Chief Executive of Lithuanian Railways.
Albin Spychalski has been elected President of the newly-formed Polish Chamber of Railway Suppliers, based in Bydgoszcz. Roman Pikula and Jan Sówka have been named Vice-Presidents.
Nick Ford has been appointed Head of Freight in Railtrack’s Commercial Department, succeeding Robin Gisby who has become Director, Network Development. Acting Head of Freight Diana Linnett is to become Director of the Rail Freight Group, replacing Julia Clarke who has been appointed Freight Director of the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority.
Jozef Macejko was appointed Minister of Transport in Slovakia on August 12, replacing Gabriel Palacka.
Kees van Hoek has joined BLS L
