Utrecht – Aad Veenman, President of the Dutch Railways NS, has been elected the new Chairman of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) for a two year term. He succeeds Karel Vinck who is leaving his post as CEO of the Belgian Railways SNCB/NMBS at the end of this month.

Just after the CER General Assembly held on 26 January 2005 in Brussels, Veenman
showed himself very pleased that he would be taking over the Chairmanship: “There are
many important issues for the coming years which will have an impact in 2005 with respect
to the Third Railway Package. After many years of preparation, there seems to be a
summit of decisions lying ahead and CER’s influence is already now wide-ranging. Issues
such as achieving a level playing field between transport modes, interoperability, a rail
traffic management system and the development of new lines into the new Member States
are all happening at the same time.”