European rail CEOs Beroud (PKP), Donnarumma (FS), Grinbergs (LDz), Hegyi (MAV) & Lazauskas (LTG) join CER Management Committee

News24 Sep 2024

European rail CEOs Beroud (PKP), Donnarumma (FS), Grinbergs (LDz), Hegyi (MAV) & Lazauskas (LTG) join CER Management Committee

Europe's leading rail CEOs came together in Berlin today on the occasion of the 74th General Assembly of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) to assess and define the priorities for the association's work in the coming year. Top of their agenda was the election of new members of the CER Management Committee and the appointment of a new Technical Director to ensure the association maintains its strong voice in the field of rail interoperability and safety.

2025 will be a pivotal year for European Rail with a new European College of Commissioners and Parliament in place. Adequate support and recognition of rail as the backbone of sustainable and competitive transport is essential. During the meeting, the CER CEOs adopted a series of positions on sustainable tourism, the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework, and the European Commission's Pilot Project initiative to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail traffic.

The General Assembly unanimously approved the appointment of Marcel de la Haye as CER Technical Director. Mr de la Haye has many years of valuable experience in the railway sector in both strategic and operational roles and will coordinate and drive forward the work of the CER technical team.

CER Management Board & Executive Directorship

The General Assembly also confirmed five new members to the CER Management Committee for the remainder of the current term, Egidijus Lazauskas (LTG CEO), Stefano Donnarumma (FS CEO), Artis Grinbergs (LDz CEO), and Zsolt Hegyi (MÁV CEO) and Alan Beroud (PKP CEO) as Vice-Chair.

The Management Committee for 2024-2025 is therefore composed as follows:

Sophie Dutordoir (SNCB/NMBS CEO), Jean-Pierre Farandou (SNCF CEO), Richard Lutz (DB CEO), and Alan Beroud (PKP CEO) will act as Vice-chairs.

The rest of the Management Committee is composed of Raül Blanco Diaz (RENFE Chairman-CEO), Stefano Donnarumma (FS CEO), Vincent Ducrot (SBB CEO), Artis Grinbergs (LDz CEO), Zsolt Hegyi (MÁV CEO), Wouter Koolmees (NS President), Michal Krapinec (CD CEO), Egidijus Lazauskas (LTG CEO), Jiří Svoboda (SZCZ Director General), Marc Wengler (CFL Director General) and Oliver Wolff (VDV Managing Director).

Andreas Matthä, CEO of Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), is halfway through his third mandate as Chair of the Association. Alberto Mazzola is approaching the end of his second term as Executive Director and will commence his third on 1 January 2025, as approved by the General Assembly in Gdansk 2023.

CER Chair Andreas Matthä said " With the multiannual financial framework, budgetary issues will be at the heart of the next legislature. Indeed, adequate funding will be key to the success of the recently adopted TEN-T Regulation, as well as the Capacity Regulation, for which the trilogue is about to start. The same applies to the digital key enablers such as the digital automatic coupling of wagons, but also the ETCS signalling system. Only with adequate financial resources can the railways meet society's expectations."

CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola said: "In the CER Manifesto, railways commit to the provision of better passenger services for all, including high-speed connections between capitals and major cities; digital rail freight operations integrated with other modes, leading to zero-emission European logistics; and reliable, safe, high-speed infrastructure as well as improvements to the existing network through modernisation and digitalisation. We are very pleased that many of these points have been taken up in the next term of the European Commission. We will continue to work on the full and timely implementation of the CER Ticketing Roadmap which is an absolute priority for CER and its members. We also warmly welcome our new Technical director Marcel de la Haye who will enhance greatly the excellent work of the CER technical team. I also offer my congratulations to our new Vice-Chair and members of the Management Committee".

CER Technical Director Marcel de la Haye said "I am enthusiastic to join CER as Technical Director at the start of the new European legislative mandate and at a time when European railways are driving huge transformation projects in digitalisation and automation. The deployment of key technological enablers such as the European signalling system (ERTMS), the future European Railway Communications System (FRMCS), and Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) are major technical game changers for the entire sector. They require a united sector approach, a clear technical framework, and sufficient funding. This is a huge task for CER and its Technical Director, as is CER's contribution to the future common Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI). Operating railways is a team sport, and I am therefore particularly thrilled to have the opportunity of working with experts from CER members and to be part of such an interdisciplinary and truly European team".