PEOPLE

Amtrak President & Chief Executive Officer George D Warrington announced on March 7 that he was resigning; he is to return to New Jersey Transit, becoming Executive Director in succession to Jeffrey Warsh. John Robert Smith has been elected Chairman of Amtrak in place of Tommy Thompson, who stood down last year. Acting Chairman Michael Dukakis will resume his role as Vice-President.

Eid Abdel Kader Metwalli has been appointed Chairman of Egyptian National Railways; he succeeds Ahmed el-Sherif, who resigned after 373 passengers were killed by a fire on an overnight train.

Paulo Rogério Magalhães has been elected President of Opportrans, the operator of Rio de Janeiro Metro lines 1 and 2. He succeeds Hamilton de Freitas, who has joined the company's advisory board.

Martin Lacombe has been appointed CEO of Australia Railroad Group.

Dr Monique Ravoo has been appointed Regulator of Public Transport as part of legislative changes in the Netherlands (RG 1.02 p42).

Jacques Damas has assumed the role of Operations Director at Eurostar (UK) Ltd. Pascal Tomasso has left his position as Executive Director, Sales & Marketing.

SNCF has appointed seven Line Directors for the Transilien commuter network. François Pinton is responsible for RER Line E and routes out of Paris-Est, with Jean-Gérard Lafeuillade in charge of Lines B and D and services into the Gare de Lyon. The western routes into the Gare du Nord are the responsibility of Michel Boudoussier, while Claude Havard is in charge of the northern group of routes into Saint-Lazare. The southern group, La Verrière - La Défense services and RER Line A from Nanterre-Prefecture to Poissy and Cergy-le-Haut are managed by Patrick Catillon. Isabelle Delobel is Line Director for routes into Montparnasse, with RER Line C managed by Philippe Jacob.

Guillermo López Del Punta has been appointed Secretary of Transportation in Argentina. Alberto Trezza is Under-Secretary of Rail Transportation, Ports & Waterways, and Luis Drago is in charge of Surface Transportation.

Banverket Chief Executive Bob Bylund has been elected as Chairman of the European Infrastructure Managers association (RG 2.02 p59). Refer Chief Executive Francisco J Cardoso dos Reis becomes Vice-Chairman.

Nelson Bastos has become President of Brasil Ferrovias, formed from freight private operators Ferronorte, Ferroban and Novoeste (p165). João Gouveia Ferrão Neto and José Oswaldo Cruz are Operations and Commercial Directors for the metre gauge network, with Elesbão de Oliveira Neto and José Maria Ribeiro de Almeida holding the same posts on the broad gauge.

Geoffrey Howe was appointed Chairman of Railtrack Group from March 7. Finance Director David Harding has been appointed Chief Executive, and Simon Osborne joins the board as Legal Director. John Robinson and Steve Marshall have stepped down as Chairman and Chief Executive, but remain as non-executive directors.

Karl Michael Mohnsen has become Member of the DB Cargo board responsible for wagonload traffic.

Jurandir Fernando Ribeiro Fernandes has become Secretary of Metropolitan Transportation in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. He succeeded Cl