Dr Ralf Kaminsky – ERRAC Chair
Dr Ralf studied Civil Engineering with a focus on railway operation and construction and achieved a graduation Diploma (Dipl.-Ing.) in 1994. In 2001 he achieved a PhD (Dr.-Ing) in the field of railway timetabling and simulation of railway operation.
From 1994 until 2000 Ralf worked as a scientific researcher at the Institute of Railway Construction and Operation, University of Hannover and worked on several projects on operational planning and timetabling.
In 2001 he joined Siemens Mobility and held different positions mainly in the field of mainline signaling. Among others, he led the strategy department for the business in Germany, was responsible for the business with on-board equipment and was Director for Mainline Regulation & Standards within the Product and Portfolio Management. Currently, he is heading the group for Technology Collaborations in the CTO department.
All along he has represented Siemens in different Committees (UNIFE, UNISIG; VDB, ERRAC) and EU-funded projects. Recently Ralf was intensively involved in the set-up of the ERJU especially in the newly built System Pillar.
Mr. Christophe Chéron – ERRAC Vice-Chair
Christophe began his SNCF career in rolling stock maintenance and engineering in 1990. From 2000 to 2003, he supported the UIC wagons sub-commission 25B Chair, managing technical rules at the European level. In 2003, he joined the SNCF Technology and Research Department and chaired the activities of the UIC Technical and Research Platform. Since 2007, he has managed research partnerships, and has been involved in ERRAC, leading the UIC Research Coordination Group and serving as a member of the French Research National Agency’s Transport programme steering committee, making SNCF a partner in more than 25 FP7 projects.
In 2012, he was seconded to the PREDIT secretariat (French research and innovation programme for surface transport) at the Transport Ministry. He participated in the grant process for the transport part of the Programme Investment for the Future (PIA) and in various research programs and projects at both national (IRT Railenium) and European levels (Shift2Rail, serving as the French representative in the States Representatives Group, DEUFRAKO, Eranet Transport 3, Eranet Electromobility+).
In 2016, he rejoined SNCF Innovation and Research to coordinate SNCF’s participation in Shift2Rail and to manage research partnerships. He has also been involved in defining the JU Europe’s Rail. Since 2021, he has served as SNCF’s representative on the Europe’s Rail Governing Board and the System and Innovation Programme Board, coordinating SNCF’s activities in Horizon Europe. He is also a member of the ERRAC Steering Committee.
Dr Marion Berbineau – ERRAC Vice-Chair / PAG Chair
Dr. Marion Berbineau is a full-time Research Director at Université Gustave Eiffel in France. Her extensive experience in collaborative work with different partners from around 30 European projects and 18 national and regional projects (7 as project leader) will help her in coordinating the ERRAC PAG. Dr. Marion received her engineering degree from Polytech’Lille (France) and Ph.D. degree from the University of Lille, both in electrical engineering. Her primary research interest is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and she is an expert in the fields of radio wave propagation and signal processing in transport environments, electromagnetic modelling, channel characterization and modelling, amongst others.
Marion plans to contribute to strengthening the participation of academics in railways and major European programs, such as ERJU, promoting a cross-fertilization approach. She also plans to define specific actions within the ERRAC PAG, such as student competitions, to actively promote the involvement of young researchers and women in railway research.