Trump taps former Conrail President Batory to lead FRA

President Donald Trump yesterday announced his intent to nominate Ronald Batory to serve as administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

Batory has more than 45 years of rail industry experience and most recently served as president and chief operating officer of Conrail. Batory joined the company in 1998 as vice president-operations and was appointed COO in 2004. He retired from Conrail on March 31.

Before that, he was president of the Belt Railway Co. of Chicago. Batory also spent more than 20 years working for both eastern and western Class Is, in addition to assisting a court-appointed trustee's oversight of a regional railroad bankruptcy.

The Senate still needs to confirm Batory as the FRA's new leader.

The news follows the appointment of Heath Hall as the FRA's deputy administrator. He was sworn in on June 23.