Corporate Train Wreck

German rail technology company Vossloh fired its chief executive today, citing "serious differences of opinion" between him and the management and supervisory boards that oversee his strategy for the company.

Gerhard Eschenroeder's strategy has recently focused on expanding in the U.S. Vossloh recently bought a pair of American rail-switch makers: Cleveland Track Material and Pohl Corp. It merged them into Vossloh Track Material Inc., and Eschenroeder said at the time, in April, that more was to come.

"With the acquisition of Pohl and Cleveland, we are accelerating the consolidation of the U.S. switch market," he said in a statement. He noted that the transactions made Vossloh the third-largest switch supplier in the U.S.

What, then, derailed his career at the company? No one is offering up specifics.

"The reasons for the removal are serious differences of opinion on the executive board and between the C.E.O. and the supervisory board," is all the company would say in a statement.

A lack of specificity make investors nervous, of course. And today is not a day to encourage investor anxiety. Shares of the company plunged 8.8 percent.

by Mark Stein