Fruitful cooperation should be further developed between ERA and UIC with the aim of a safe, interoperable and competitive rail transport system
Mr. Josef Doppelbauer, former Chief Technical Officer at Bombardier Transportation and Chairman of ERRAC (the European Railway Research Advisory Council to the European Commission) was elected on 30 September in Valenciennes by the Administrative Board of the European Railway Agency (ERA) as the new ERA Executive Director, succeeding Marcel Verslype who was appointed as the first ERA Executive Director in 2004 and renewed in his mandate in 2009. Josef Doppelbauer will take on his new role on 1 January 2015.
UIC would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank Marcel Verslype for the excellent and fruitful cooperation between ERA and UIC over the last 10 years, and express sincere congratulations to Josef Doppelbauer on his appointment as the new ERA Executive Director in an essential period of development for the European rail transport system.
Josef Doppelbauer holds a Dipl.-Ing. Degree and a Doctorate, both in Physics, from the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. He started his career at Alcatel Austria, Vienna where he held several positions in research and development, with emphasis on telecommunications and signalling systems. He was then (2001-2002) Chief Technical Officer of Alcatel’s Transport Automation Division, located in Paris, with responsibility, among others, for ERTMS/ETCS development.
Josef Doppelbauer joined Bombardier Transportation in December 2002 as Director, Systems and Products, Rail Control Solutions. In 2003-2005 he served as Vice President, Engineering, Rail Control Solutions, based in Sweden. In February 2005, he was appointed President, Rail Control Solutions of Bombardier Transportation, leading the global signalling division. In 2008 he was appointed Vice President Project Management and Chief Technical Officer, Bombardier Transportation, based at UIC HQ.
Josef Doppelbauer was also Chairman of ERRAC, the European Railway Research Advisory Council to the EC, in charge of guiding the European Union’s policy and programmes related to railway research.
UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux and the UIC Board of Directors sincerely congratulate Josef Doppelbauer on his appointment at the head of the European Railway Agency and acknowledge his excellent knowledge of the future challenges for rail. Jean-Pierre Loubinoux underlined: “I am pleased to learn the nomination of Mr. Doppelbauer and UIC is grateful for the work achieved together at ERRAC with a shared vision of a balanced future.”
UIC is willing to further offer its railway expertise and support to the technical work of ERA. In this respect, UIC is in a strong position to play a key role especially in research, innovation and standards for the development of the Future European Railway System.
