Today, the ERA Administrative Board elected Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Josef Doppelbauer, former CTO of Bombardier, to become the next Executive Director of the European Railway Agency (ERA) as of 1st January 2015. The European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) highly welcome the appointment and are looking forward to a very fruitful cooperation with Dr. Doppelbauer.

On behalf of all rail infrastructure managers, EIM’s President Gunnar Malm and EIM Executive Director Monika Heiming warmly welcome the appointment. “We trust Dr. Doppelbauer to work in a collaborative way with all stakeholders to make the rail system a highly competitive and performing one. We are committed to support him and the entire ERA in this task.”

Dr. Doppelbauer has had an expansive career within the railway industry, starting at Alcatel Transport Automation Solutions where he rose to the position of Chief Technical Officer with significant focus being placed on researching and developing the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). Since 2002, Dr. Doppelbauer has worked for Bombardier Transportation and has spent periods of time working in various European countries developing rail control solutions before eventually becoming their Chief Technical Officer in 2008 as well as Vice President of Project Management. Concurrently Dr. Doppelbauer holds the chairmanship of the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) and the Shift2Rail Preparatory Committee. With an expanding portfolio of responsibilities arising from the Fourth Railway Package, ERA will face new and unseen challenges. Against that background, EIM believes that Dr. Doppelbauer’s business acumen developed from his previous experience in the private sector will be the valuable asset ERA needs.