Annual activity report 2016 : adopted in the European Union Agency for Railways Management Board meeting of 27 June 2017

The key activity in 2016 was, consequently, the preparation of the Agency and its stakeholders for the new tasks under the fourth railway package, with a series of workshops held with the stakeholders in order to prepare the practical arrangements for single safety certificates, vehicle authorisations and ERTMS approval. Internally within the Agency the focus has been on competence management, in order to have the required skills available when needed after the transition period in 2019. The programme, which was rolled out in 2015, was further implemented in 2016 with a highlight represented by the mock-up of the one-stop shop that the Agency has to implement in order to support the processes mentioned, and with the internal call for interest and gap analysis launched in 2016. In light of the new Agency regulation, the governance structure of the Agency was adjusted. Notably, the Administrative Board was replaced by the Management Board, and the former Sub-Committee by the new Executive Board. In 2016 the Agency achieved significant progress in all areas of the work programme, in particular in safety with the work on safety occurrence reporting, in interoperability with the rules reduction programme and in ERTMS with the adoption of the revised technical specification for interoperability (TSI) on the Control-Command and Signalling subsystem (CCS) and the conclusion of the memorandum of understanding between the European Commission, the Agency and the sector organisations. The Agency can look back at a successful year with many achievements. A revised strategic vision of the Agency was published. Key elements of this strategic vision were presented at several international conferences for debate and discussion. The Agency, in cooperation with DG Mobility and Transport, prepared a strategy for international relations, highlighting missions to the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran, the first meeting of the global Platform of Rail Agencies and Innotrans in Berlin. The Agency also signed an agreement with DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations on EUMedRail in relation to the dissemination of the EU railway framework to a number of countries in eastern Europe, north Africa and the Middle East.