OANA GHERGHINESCU SELECTED AS FUTURE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE EU RAILWAYS AGENCY
On 19 March 2025, Oana Gherghinescu was selected as the next Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA). Ms Gherghinescu, who has worked at ERA for the past 11 years, presented herself to the European Parliament’s TRAN Committee, outlining her vision for the agency's future. She emphasised three key priorities for her mandate.
First, she stressed the importance of ensuring the agency’s stability, with sufficient resources to deliver on its growing responsibilities. She highlighted the opportunities presented by the Readiness 2030 initiative, noting that rail plays a crucial role in military mobility and that this should be used to advance traffic management systems across the EU and the TEN-T network. Second, she underlined the need for ERA to be more attuned to national realities and implementation challenges — particularly regarding the incomplete rollout of the Fourth Railway Package. Ms Gherghinescu called for practical solutions to remove obstacles to cross-border rail traffic in the EU. Her third priority focused on enhancing the competitiveness of the rail sector. She called for reducing administrative burdens and adopting a clear innovation roadmap to support sectoral development.
During the ensuing discussion, Members of the European Parliament raised questions on administrative bottlenecks, rail safety concerns - particularly in relation to Greece - and the development of rail infrastructure within TEN-T as well as in more remote regions. The importance of digitalisation and the implementation of single ticketing solutions were also highlighted as key areas for further progress.
You can find the official press release on Ms Oana Gherghinescu’s selection here.