<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-description"> Former HVCCC chief and current Whitehaven Coal executive general manager for infrastructure, Jonathan Vandervoort, has been named as the new boss of the Australian Rail Track Corporationâs Hunter Valley business. </span> <p>ARTC chief executive John Fullerton last week announced Vandervoort’s appointment, who he said was chosen following a highly competitive national and international recruitment search.<br /><br />Fullerton said Vandervoort, who will start with ARTC in January 2015, is “highly regarded within the resources and logistics industry”.<br /><br />“With nearly 30 years of experience in the Australian coal mining industry,” Fullerton continued, “his understanding of the industry, and its stakeholders, is exceptional.”<br /><br />For ten years before joining Whitehaven, Vandervoort was involved with the development of NSW’s coal infrastructure network, spending five years as the founding chief executive officer of the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator.<br /><br />“Jonathan has also held several senior executive roles across the coal chain, including at Port Waratah Coal Services, and has demonstrated an excellent track record in managing change within complex logistics environments,” Fullerton said.<br /><br />“For ARTC, that’s more important than ever as we work hard to strengthen our relationships with our customers and find ways to bring innovation and efficiency to the Hunter Valley coal chain.”<br /><br />The announcement of Vandervoort’s appointment followed ARTC’s announcement of a new company structure in August, which also included the appointment of Peter Winder as executive general manager of ARTC’s Interstate business unit.<br /><br />“These two appointments will drive the transformation of our company to embed customer focus at the core of our business and drive commercial results by increasing the volume of freight on our network across Australia,” Fullerton said.<br /><br />Gerard Withford, currently ARTC’s general manager for infrastructure, will continue to act as executive general manager of the Hunter Valley until Vandervoort takes up his new role.<br /><br />ARTC manages the Hunter Valley rail network, which facilitates the moment of an average of 300 trains per day, including coal, passenger, bulk and general freight trains.</p>
