To show appreciation for extraordinary achievements and contributions to RNE’s work, the RNE Awards were initiated in 2022. This year, for the second time, it has been our great pleasure to honour two very deserving individuals at RNE’s General Assembly meeting this week, 5th December 2023. The selected candidates were Per-Åke Wärn (Trafikverket) and Josef Stahl (RNE), both of whom have contributed immensely to RNE’s work in many different capacities and areas.
Guus de Mol (ProRail), RNE MB Member in charge of TTR and TCR,announced the first of the two awardees, Per-Åke Wärn, who received the RNE Award in the category of “Outstanding Individual Contribution”, for his remarkable 39 years of experience and active dedication to advancing the railway sector’s capacity management, pivotal role in shaping industry standards, facilitating the adoption of new models, and successful coordination of RNE’s activities at national level.
Guus de Mol thanked him for all his valuable work done both for Trafikverket but also the entire railway community. He applauded the way Per-Åke had been able to overcome national views to act as ambassador for both national and international interests, fostering the understanding that to achieve European harmonisation, all involved parties need to compromise in one way or another. He underlined Per-Åke’s ability to first achieve things “at home”, and then bringing these learnings to the European table, with humour, to find common solutions and make Europe one railway country.
Per-Åke Wärn said it was an honour to be recognised with an award and that even though he had been working in the railway sector for 39 years he had no intention to leave the business soon. He reflected on how one of the two RNE award winners of 2022, Daniel Haltner, had introduced him to RNE’s work 15 years ago and inspired him to listen, convince and be open-minded. He expressed his excitement at the degree of significance RNE had gained over the years and his hope that the new Capacity Regulation would change the future of the transport and railway sector with RNE in a front seat of this transition. He concluded that it was important to see what is best for the entire European railway sector and concluded that all steps are important in the long run.
Michel Geubelle (Infrabel), RNE MB Member in charge of IT, said it was his great pleasure and honour to annnounce the second awardee, Josef Stahl, who received the RNE Award also in the category of “Outstanding Individual Contribution”, for his extraordinary contributions in transforming the Train Information System (TIS) into one of the most successful B2B systems in the rail industry, his pivotal leadership in the development of TAF/TAP TSI, and his invaluable expertise as an active member in train performance and traffic management working groups.
Michel Geubelle elaborated on how Josef Stahl had built RNE’s TIS from the ground up and has been a major pillar of RNE for many years. He outlined his main achievements in the development of TIS and the gradual addition and evolution of the system’s many important functions, as well as the significance of his work in the area of TAF TAP TSI.
Josef Stahl said it was a great honour to receive the award and that he was truly obliged by this recognition of his work. He thanked the RNE management and colleagues, but also the Infrastructure Managers (IMs), for their support of, and trust in his work and in TIS as an idea worth fighting for. He emphasized that RNE is not only a network of IMs, but a network of people with the same spirit, a family that stays together and finds solutions.
RNE’s efforts are highly enhanced by many different individuals, as well as companies. It is our hope that the RNE Awards will continue to convey increased visibility and appreciation for exceptional work done and encourage involvement in RNE’s activities, today and in the future.
More information on the RNE Awards here.