A new board has been appointed for South African Rail Commuter Corporation following the departure of Chairman John Edwards and Managing Director Wynand Burger. Peter Malungani chairs the new team, with Ben van der Ross as acting Managing Director and board members Willem Burger, Jerry Makokoane, Omega Shelembe and James Ngobeni.
Juan Carlos Barrón Benavente has been named President of Spanish high-speed rail authority GIF. At one time Director of Works & Installations for Renfe, he has been head of the railway’s infrastructure consultancy arm Ineco since 1986.
William Rowat has been named as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Railway Association of Canada, succeeding R H Ballantyne.
Robert Kiley, Chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority from 1983 to 1991, has been appointed as London’s Commissioner for Transport. He succeeds the Interim Chief Executive of Transport for London Anthony Mayer, who has become Chief Executive of the Greater London Authority. Within TfL, Richard Smith has been named Director of Integration.
In a reorganisation of the management team at New Zealand’s Tranz Rail, John Moriarty and Paul Spackman are stepping down, and Dr Murray King and Steve Voullaire will become consultants to the company. Noel Coom has been appointed to the new position of Group General Manager, Rail Services.
Istvan Endredy has been named President of Hungarian State Railways, replacing Gyula Takacsy. The new position of Deputy Director-General is yet to be filled.
Amtrak’s Mail & Express business unit is to be headed by Lee H Sargrad, who joins from Triple Crown as President. Ed Ellis moves to the new position of Vice-President, Sales & Marketing.
Two new Vice-Presidents have been appointed at Russian Railways’ Krasnoyarsk region, Pyotr Ovsyanikov, Passenger, and Sergey Timofeev, Transportation. Vassili Dubovik becomes Director, Passenger, at the North Caucasian Railway.
Lawrence Dahms has stepped down as Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Richard Bowker has joined Virgin Management Ltd as Group Commercial Director; he is also co-Chairman of Virgin Rail Group with Keith Cochrane. Virgin Trains has appointed Christine Turner as Regional Manager, South West.
Director General of Transpole Lille Yves Lancelot has been named Vice President. He is succeeded by Bruno Sterin, who was Operations Manager for SLTC in Lyon.
Euan Cameron has stepped down as Managing Director of West Anglia Great Northern Railway following the takeover of Prism Rail by National Express Group. He is succeeded on an acting basis by WAGN and c2c Commercial Director Mark Powles.
Ntahli Borotho has been appointed Executive Manager of Spoornet’s business unit Luxrail, responsible for the Blue Train.
Victoria-based Freight Australia has appointed Robin Hockins as Manager of its NSW business unit.
Michel Fremder has been named Managing Director of SNCF exhibition train subsidiary Trains-Expositions SA; he was Director General of France TGV Magazine.
Caterpillar Inc has appointed Chuck Wills to head its new Railway Power Systems business unit, with Barry Savage as Manager, Product Support, and Stuart Holder as Engineering Manager.
A new structure has been introduced at Britain’s Shadow Strategic Rail Authority prior to its official establishment at the beginning of next year. Ten Executive Directors have been appointed, of whom most are current members of the executive: Chris Austin, External Relations; Terence Jenner, Corporate Services; Martin McGann, Finance; and Nick Newton, Passenger. The remaining six departments are headed by Gary Backler, Regional Networks; Julia Clarke, Freight; Peter Hansford, Infrastructure Development; and Richard Morris, London & South East; the Strategic Routes and Investment positions have yet to be filled. Board Members designate of the SRA are: Sir Alastair Morton, Chairman, Mike Grant, Franchising Director & Chief Executive, and Prof David Begg, Lew Adams, Lord Bradshaw, David Jefferies, Pen Kent, David Quarmby, Willie Gallagher, Ann Hemingway, David Grayson, Jeremy Mayhew, Adrian Montague, Janet Rubin, and Kevin Small.
Swedish State Railways has begun to transfer headquarters functions to its business units. SJ Resor now oversees: Economics & Finance, headed by Britt Wissing; Development, Christer Jernberg; Operations, Jan Forslund; Contracts, Bo Granberg; Political, Magnus Persson; Staff, Peter Blomqvist; and Marketing & Information, Christer Jernberg (acting). SJ Resor business units are headed by Mona Ivansson, South; Gert Rehn, West; Gunnar Wulff, Malm
