East Japan Railway Co. will promote its executive vice president, Tetsuro Tomita, to president on April 1 to succeed Satoshi Seino, who will become chairman after staying in the post for six years, the carrier said Wednesday.
Current JR East Chairman Mutsutake Otsuka, 69, will become an adviser.
Tomita, 60, an expert in corporate planning, will face such tasks as restoring services disrupted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
After joining the old Japanese National Railways in 1974, Tomita assumed his current post in June 2008. JNR was later split into regional railway companies, including JR East.