Josef Doppelbauer took office in January 2015 and led the Agency to a new era as a European authority, where EU-wide vehicle authorisation, safety certification, and ERTMS trackside approval are granted.

ERA’s Executive Director is committed to a forward-looking approach and to making the railway system work better for society, while promoting the Agency, a respected authority, as the engine for change, driving the Single European Railway Area.

Josef Doppelbauer has 25 years of experience in key aspects of railway technology, including signalling and control command systems, and has been involved since the early 1990's with the development of the European Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS). From 2012 to 2014, he was chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Committee (ERRAC), the European technology platform of the rail sector. From 2011 to 2014, he was the chairman of the Steering Committee of the Joint Technology Initiative Shift2Rail.