Thomas Rettig
Senior Expert for Vehicle Authorisation
- Extensive experience with approval and authorisation procedures for all types of rail vehicles
- Many years of national and international experience in project management
- Expert in determining complex authorization requirements
- Many years of experience in working with conformity assessment bodies
Contact Thomas Rettig at the Berlin office
Thomas Rettig is a Senior Expert in Vehicle Authorisation at NEXTRAIL GmbH. A proven expert in approval procedures for rail vehicle technology with or without on-board ETCS integration, he has been working in specialist and management positions in the rail sector for over 30 years. Since the introduction of the European Commission's 4th railway package, he has been responsible for the authorisation of rail vehicles of all kinds at the European Railway Agency.
He has gained his detailed knowledge through a large number of national and international projects for newbuilt, retrofitting or upgrading vehicle projects, as well as many years of successful cooperation with manufacturers, independent experts, conformity assessment bodies and authorities.
Throughout his professional life, Thomas Rettig has become familiar with the challenges, problems and complexity of authorisation procedures in their entire scope from the perspective of all stakeholders, including rail vehicle manufacturers, testing institutes and consultancies and, in his new role, the European authorising entity.
At the beginning of his career, he focused on design, technical consulting and international project management. Over the course of his career, he concentrated on the increasingly important topic of certification, approval and authorisation of rail vehicles, their systems and components - in particular on the authorisation processes resulting from the requirements of the European Technical Specifications for Interoperability and the requirements for on-board ETCS equipment for rail vehicles.
His work is characterised by a methodical and customer-oriented approach. During his time abroad, he also familiarised himself with the particularities of international projects and authorisation processes.
Thomas Rettig graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rostock.
Personal project references for Thomas Rettig
European Railway Agency. Successful implementation of vehicle authorisation procedures pursuant to the 4th railway package.
DB Fernverkehr. ETCS vehicle approval for the Berlin - Munich high-speed line.
TÜV Rheinland Rail Sciences. International certification and approval of systems and components
Dornier Consulting GmbH. Further development of German magnetic railway technology.
Siemens Transportation Systems. CBTC Subway New York and Kuala Lumpur Airport rail feeder line.
As part of his work at the European Railway Agency (ERA), Thomas Rettig has been involved in the successful implementation of more than 160 pre-engagement and authorisation procedures based on the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/545 for all types of railway vehicles (with and without ETCS) in a responsible position.
To operate the Berlin - Munich high-speed line with the European Train Control System (ETCS), Thomas Rettig had to obtain approval from the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA) on time for a leading ETCS system house.
The ICEs retrofitted with ETCS were able to commence operations on the Berlin - Munich high-speed line on schedule in December 2025.
As part of his work in a managerial role for TÜV Rheinland in the USA, Mr Rettig was responsible for handling projects for independent component and system tests, quality and safety assessments, inspections, technical analyses and simulations. In the area of approval procedures, he was particularly involved in the approval and certification of systems and components for railway technology (vehicles, track, signalling, train protection, infrastructure) and automated people movers (ATO) in North America.
During his time at Dornier Consulting GmbH, Thomas Rettig was responsible for the project management and supervision of design and supply contracts between the German government and the suppliers of an automated high-speed magnetic levitation passenger transport system (Maglev) as part of the program for the further development of maglev technology. His team's responsibilities included overseeing the implementation of all contractual requirements relating to the design, manufacture, installation, integrated testing, safety assessment, acceptance testing and technical certification of the Transrapid maglev technology.
As a project engineer at Siemens Transportation System, Thomas Rettig was responsible for interface management, risk and claim management and supplier management in international turnkey projects as part of on-site project management. As part of the CBTC Subway New York and Kuala Lumpur Airport rail link projects, he worked for several months on-site with local project teams in the USA and Malaysia. With his experience, he made a significant contribution to realising these projects on budget and on time.
