Virginia Railway Express announces new acting CEO

The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) has named Richard Dalton as the acting CEO.

Dalton, who joined VRE in 2009 as director of rail equipment and services, most recently served as chief operating officer and deputy CEO.

VRE’s parent organizations, the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission and Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, confirmed Dalton as acting CEO on Nov. 7 and 14, respectively.

Prior to joining VRE, Dalton spent 20 years in the private sector, focusing on customer service, operations and technical solutions for the rail industry. He was forward deployed in various sea commands in the United States Navy. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s in business administration from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.

Dalton was instrumental in VRE’s implementation of positive train control earlier this year, making it among the first commuter rail services in the U.S. to do so. Chief among his accomplishments are the standardization of VRE’s fleet through the procurement of new locomotives and passenger rail cars, implementation of both lifecycle maintenance and reliability-centered maintenance and cultivation of positive working relationships with VRE’s host railroads. He also played a key role in extending VRE service to Spotsylvania County in 2015. Dalton’s focus in the coming months is on complete customer satisfaction.