‘Safety and approval management are interlinked and must be applied pragmatically.’
Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling
Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling
Member of Executive Board Head of SAFETY Department Registered inspector for equivalent safety and risk assessment
- Many years of experience in the preparation of system assessments and safety assessment reports
- Highest expertise in risk analysis for the areas of ETCS and electronic interlocking
- In-depth knowledge of safety and approval management
Contact Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling at the Frankfurt office
Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling is a senior expert and head of the SAFETY department at NEXTRAIL GmbH. For 15 years, she has been a proven expert in operational and technical risk analyses in the railway sector – in control and safety technology in particular. She possesses methodical expertise in risk and hazard analyses as well as in-depth knowledge of the processes involved in the approval processes. Her expertise is based on a wealth of experience from the operational, manufacturing and advisory side, including with the assessment body, at DB Netz AG as a system expert and at Ernst Basler + Partner AG as a project manager in the security division, among others. She made a name for herself in the industry years ago as the author of the ETCS Level 2 risk analysis and the NeuPro electronic interlocking risk analysis.
Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling holds a civil engineering degree from TU Braunschweig (Brunswick technical university) and a Master of Science in Transportation and Highway Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. In her 2009 dissertation at TU Braunschweig, she describes the further development and validation of a semi-quantitative method for risk analysis (BP risk), for which the general requirements of European standards (50126) and European legislation (CSM-RA Regulation) were adapted to specific products. She was a lecturer at ETH Zurich, where she also coached doctoral students.
Since 2022, Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling has been a recognised registered inspector for certifying at-minimum equivalent safety (PSV-GS) and for explicit risk assessments (PSV-RA) in the event of non-significant changes in accordance with the German ordinance on registered inspectors in the railway sector for the specialist area of signal, telecommunication and electrotechnical facilities. She is also an EBO railway operations officer for managers and supervisors.
Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling has been training CSM-RA assessments and risk analyses for years. She is also a member of the DKE working group on semi-quantitative methods for risk analysis of technical functions in railway signalling technology VDE V 0831.
Contact Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling at the Frankfurt office
Personal project references for Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling
As part of the project, NEXTRAIL is performing the risk management for the overall project on behalf of CFL in accordance with the CSM-RA. The analysis included the following scope of services: development and creation of the CSM documentation, communication with the assessment body on behalf of CFL, and project management and coordination with the Société nationale des chemins de fer luxembourgeois.
Focus of the service areas
Safety Management
Safety and approval management with a complete portfolio for all safety-related topics. From risk and hazard analyses to CSM analyses and detailed inspection plans.
