On September 3rd, 2012 the Registry Department of Harju County Court of the Republic of Estonia endorsed the separation of Estonian Railways Ltd. (EVR) as a result of which its freight subsidiary AS EVR Cargo became an independent company in government ownership.

The endorsement of separation also meant the termination of the services contract of Mr. Kaido Simermann, Chairman of the Management Board of Estonian Railways. The Supervisory Board of the company appointed Mr. Ahti Asmann as the new Chairman of the Management Board of Estonian Railways.

Ahti Asmann has worked 18 years in SEB Bank and has vast experience in managing a large international enterprise. For the last three years Ahto Asmann managed the Ukrainian branch of SEB Bank. His experience as the Chairman of the Management Board of SEB Estonia and manager of SEB’s Ukrainian unit during the years of economic recession proved his capability to lead businesses in a rapidly changing business environment.

Ahti Asmann said that the three major goals of Estonian Railways for the following three years are the completion of railway infrastructure reconstruction with the help of the EU Structural Fund, ensuring high and sustainable quality of passenger and freight transport and getting ready for the implementation of the Rail Baltic project.

The new chairman of EVR also underlined that during the last five years the company has made significant investments for increasing train driving speed, as well as levels of passenger comfort and safety. These investments establish necessary technical preconditions for rendering high-quality passenger and freight services. ”Now we need to secure efficient workload for our modernised network. The key to the successful management of the company lies in finding good use for the unused infrastructure capacity. EVR has experienced and skilled staff with long traditions that I can rely on during my future work,” said Asmann.

He also explained that in the light of reduced freight flows it is vital for EVR to ensure a stable and competitive freight transport environment and play an active role in the international logistic chain. We need to cooperate with freight transport operators in order to use our infrastructure more efficiently and participate actively in the cooperation between railway networks with 1520 mm gauge in order to increase freight flows going through Estonia.

Estonian Railways must be ready to play an active role in the Rail Baltic project where, in addition to active work with the EU, we need to work together with our Baltic partners to find the optimal forms of cooperation for the launch of the new corridor.

Ahti Asmann

• Chairman of the Management Board of Estonian Railways Ltd. (AS Eesti Raudtee)
• Born in 27 October 1973 in Võru, Estonia
• Graduated in 1995 the Faculty of Banking and Business Finances of Tartu University, MBA
• Since 1994 worked in Eesti Ühispank, later SEB Bank. In years 2007-2009 Chairman of the Management Board of SEB Estonia, since 2010 Head of the Ukrainian Branch of SEB Bank.

UIC warmly congratulates Mr Asmann on his appointment.

(Source: EVR)