European Affairs Director
AŽD Praha/UNISIG, Czech Republic
Graduated 1998 in Railway signalling at University of West Bohemia in Plzeň and joined AŽD Praha where is till now. First years were at R&D in development of electronic interlocking systems. As senior engineer he moved to foreign trade department with responsibility for business development. Starting 2007 is responsible for company strategy and also for EU affairs.
In the past, he worked in the international development project of the UIC (World Federation of Railways) in Zurich, Switzerland, and established AŽD among the world suppliers of ERTMS technology when he headed AŽD’s representation to European institutions in Brussels.
In the period 2008 – 2011 permanently based in Brussels coordinating AŽD activity toward EU institutions and professional organisations where he organised the enlargement of UNISIG Consortium for AŽD Praha Company. So AŽD Praha becomes first company joining UNISIG since its establishing.
He is actively involved in the field of ERTMS and ETCS within UNIFE since 2004 and promotes the introduction of ETCS in the Czech Republic and Europe. In 2008 he became a member of the working group of manufacturers of railway signalling equipment UNIFE CCS platform and in 2010 – 2018 he was its chairman. Since 2009, he has been working in the ERTMS Steering Committee in Brussels, which he chaired in 2020-2022. He has also co-chaired the UNISIG Consortium since 2012, which is developing the ETCS specifications for the EU Railway Agency.
Beside work in UNIFE and UNISIG he involved AŽD in a European joint venture programme with the European Commission for railway research and development called Shift2Rail and now is acting in Europe’s Rail. He is also promoter for ERTMS technology in Czech Republic and spirit of interoperability.