Expert knowledge that sets the course for success

Steffen Jurtz has been one of the managing directors of NEXTRAIL GmbH since 2017. His excellent reputation in the railway industry as a proven expert in the field of control and safety technology is based on his more than 25 years of professional experience as a consultant and partner for lighthouse projects in the area of control and safety technology for well-known railway operators and industry in Germany and abroad.

Dr Michael Leining is the managing director of NEXTRAIL GmbH. As a driver of the digitisation of the railways, he works closely with pioneering thinkers, decision makers and committees in the railway sector, advising railway and infrastructure operators on technology and transformation projects at the national and international level.

Christian Kis is Managing Director and system engineer at NEXTRAIL Austria GmbH in Vienna. His railway-specific expertise is based on many years of professional experience on the operator side in the context of realisation projects as well as in cooperation with international committees.    

Dr Albrecht Achilles is a member of the Executive Board and Head of ATO/TMS at NEXTRAIL GmbH. His broad specialist expertise is based on many years of experience as a technical consultant for control-command and signalling system, both on the operator and the manufacturer side. Dr Albrecht Achilles focuses on the technical area of the European Train Control System (ETCS), automatic train operation (ATO), traffic management systems (TMS) and signalling controlled warning systems (SCWS).

Dr Sonja-Lara Bepperling is a member of the Executive Board and Head of Railway Safety at NEXTRAIL GmbH. For 15 years, she has been a proven expert in operational and technical risk analyses in the railway sector – in control-command and signalling system 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.

Dipl.-Ing. Vincent Blateau is a member of the management team and Head of Rolling Stock at NEXTRAIL GmbH. He brings extensive cross-divisional expertise in signalling technology, including ETCS (European Train Control System), CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control), and ATO (Automatic Train Operation) from GoA 2 to GoA 4, as well as vehicle ETCS integration and rolling stock on-board units. Over the years, he has developed strong expertise in smart rolling stock retrofit projects, contributing significantly to the digitalisation of the railway sector.

Marco Gerlach is a member of the Executive Board and Head of Railway Engineering at NEXTRAIL GmbH. With over 20 years of professional experience on the manufacturing side, he has extensive operational and technical expertise in the railway sector as a consultant – in particular in the field of electronic interlockings with a focus on the German railway construction and operating regulation (EBO), the German tram construction and operating regulation (BOStrab) and control-command and signalling systems (CCS).

Olaf Gröpler is a system engineer at NEXTRAIL GmbH in the field of ETCS and interfaces to neighbouring systems. With over 25 years of professional experience in the railway system, he is a nationally and internationally recognised operational and technical expert in the highly relevant economic and safety-related issues of braking and braking behaviour of rail rolling stocks in the context of ETCS and the desired increase in track capacity.

Effective January 2023, Dr Andreas Kaldenbach became head of Railway Strategy and Consulting and a member of the Executive Board of NEXTRAIL GmbH. Dr Kaldenbach has proven himself to be a genuine railway enthusiast in management positions at Deutsche Bahn AG and has made a career as an expert dealing with challenging operational, technical and procedural issues in the railway sector.

Christian Klier is a railway consultant in the ATO/TMS and ATO sensor technology department at NEXTRAIL GmbH. As a project manager and specialist for automatic train operation and with over 15 years of professional experience in the industry, he has extensive technical expertise both in the field of product development and interdisciplinary system integration.

Jörg Liesche is Principal Consultant and Member of the Executive Board at NEXTRAIL GmbH. With over 25 years of professional experience on the manufacturer side and as a consultant, he has extensive operational and technical expertise – particularly in the area of ETCS and the interfaces to adjacent systems.

Thomas Strauß is a member of the Executive Board and Head of Software Engineering at NEXTRAIL GmbH. He has been working as a software solution architect in a leading position for decades. He is characterized by his high level of expertise in the area of business-critical, distributed, high-performance systems that are available around the clock. He has focused on the rail sector after working for well-known European companies (manufacturing, automotive).

Dr Benedikt Wenzel is a member of the Executive Board and Head of Railway Data and system/RAMS engineering department at NEXTRAIL GmbH in accordance with EN 5012x. He has over ten years of experience in the fields of European Train Control System (ETCS) and safety. He is also a specialist in data management, including recording, processing and validation.