Federal Network Agency
Federal Network Agency
01/03/2023 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/03/2023 15:05
Bundesnetzagentur chairs IRG-Rail
Bundesnetzagentur chairs IRG-Rail
Year of issue2023
Date of issue2023.01.03
Date of issue2023.01.03
The Bundesnetzagentur assumes the chair for 2023 of the Independent Regulators' Group - Rail (IRG-Rail), the European independent regulators' group for the railway sector. Serving as chair will be the team of Dr Annegret Groebel, Head of International/Post Regulation, and Prof. Karsten Otte, Head of Rail Regulation.
"I am delighted that the Bundesnetzagentur will be chairing the IRG-Rail this year. We want to further develop and forge ahead with the competitive integration of the European railway market," said Klaus Müller, Bundesnetzagentur President.
IRG-Rail activities in 2023
IRG-Rail will continue its activities in 2023 with regard to the European Commission's assessment of improving international rail transport. In a study commissioned by the European Commission, international rail freight is used as a basis for extensive consultations on further enhancement of capacity management and the basic establishment of European railway regulation. According to its previous statements, IRG-Rail will continue its involvement in this study.
European rail transport is considered a significant driver towards carbon-light mobility. To make optimum use of scarce infrastructure resources, discussions have been taking place on new models for allocating capacity more efficiently, both nationally and across borders, such as "Deutschland Takt" and "Time Tabling Redesign" or "Smart Capacity Management". In 2022 IRG-Rail published a response to the European Commission's ongoing evaluations (https://irg-rail.eu/download/5/934/220615-IRG-RailPublicConsultationImpactAssessmentfinal.pdf).
IRG-Rail background information
IRG-Rail provides a forum for 31 European railway regulatory authorities to share their experience in regulatory practice and other topics that are of current and strategic relevance and adopt common positions at European level. IRG-Rail is represented externally by the chair, who is elected annually from among its members. Further information on IRG-Rail, its tasks and publications are available www.irg-rail.eu.