Invensys Rail Group (IRG) has strengthened its Indian operations with two major managerial appointments.

They are new Managing Director Raviprakash Karcherla and new Head of Business Development Alok K Sinha.

With twenty five years of experience in the Indian rail industry, Karcherla has led IRG’s signalling, aviation and process control business units from inception to today’s profitable ventures.

He was also instrumental in putting together the ALSTOM signalling team in India that delivered the 120 million Euro Delhi Metro Lines 1 and 2 project in a record time. Karcherla also set up the ALSTOM engineering design centre responsible for “driverless” metros in Singapore and Lausanne, plus the world’s first commercial ERTMS Level 2 project between Rome and Napoli for Italy’s high-speed line.

In addition, Karcherla has a long and successful track record of managing both large-scale technology transfers and the introduction of various high technology products such as bit coded track circuits to the Indian railways market.

For his part, Sinha brings 19 years of experience in the rail transportation and mass transit sector.

For almost a decade he was Head of Business Development, Sales and Marketing with Union Switch & Signal (now Ansaldo STS) and pioneered the introduction of advanced technologies such as electronic interlocking and ETCS on Indian railways. 

Sinha worked for GEC-General Signal Borehamwood UK on its Delhi projects in the 1990s and was responsible for securing the largest signalling and telecommunications contract ever awarded by Indian Railways.

As well as being one of the best-known faces in the world of signalling and telecommunications for Indian Railways, Sinha has huge project execution experience, including conceptualisation, architecting, installation, commissioning, and achieving Indian Railway product qualification.

Westinghouse Rail Systems, part of Invensys plc, has announced three key appointments to its board and senior management team. 

Alistair McPhee has been appointed Managing Director, following the retirement of John Cotton earlier this year.  Previously General Manager of the company’s Mainline division, Alistair brings considerable engineering and major project experience to the role, gained both in the rail industry and the defence sector.

Commenting on his appointment, Alistair said: “I am delighted to be leading the company at such an exciting phase in its development.  We have one of the most experienced and committed teams in the industry, which is totally focussed on delivering high quality projects both to our mainline and metro customers”.

Following Alistair’s appointment, Mark Wild, currently one of the company’s Project Delivery Directors, has been promoted to the position of General Manager, Mainline.  In this role, Mark will take board-level responsibility for the company’s strategic development and project delivery in this key business area. 

Mark will be supported by an established team, strengthened by the appointment of Arthur Close who joins the division as Head of Mainline Sales and Marketing.  Arthur brings 20 years successful international business development experience in the energy/ oil and gas sector, and will assume business development, tendering and marketing responsibilities.

Alistair concluded: “These two appointments further strengthen our capability and expertise in the Mainline business unit and follow the recent award of our framework agreement with Network Rail, which includes the supply of Type A projects in three key regions.  With the continuing success of our metro operations – both in our home and export markets – the business is in excellent shape as we move forward.”

Charlie Ross will become the new President of Safetran Systems which is part of Invensys Rail Systems following former President, George Kline’s decision to retire at the end of 2006

Ross is currently VP of Operations at Wonderware another business within Invensys plc and also VP of their HMI-SCADA business experience which be invaluable in his new role. During his time at Wonderware, Ross built a tremendous reputation for achieving goals through strong, positive leadership and visionary thinking.

Ross will be supported by Kline as he transitions into the role, before retiring at the end of December 06.

Frans Heijnen, a well know name within the rail industry, will be moving into the role of VP Industry Relations in order to take a more active role in representing Invensys Rail Systems within international industry forums.

Owen Traynor will become Acting VP Technology and will be based at the Invensys Rail HQ in Chippenham in the UK. 

Frans Heijnen who will retire at the end of 2007 will support Traynor in order to enable a smooth transition in advance of his retirement.