The Autorité de Régulation des Activités Ferroviaires is a French government agency which regulates rail transport. ARAF was officially founded in December 2010, but there was considerable informal work before that date. The headquarters is in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

. and

Pierre Cardo Pierre Cardo (born 28 August 1949 in Toulon, Var) is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Yvelines department, and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. As of 2010, he is president of Autorité de Régul ...

was appointed as its first president. ARAF is funded by a levy on track access fees paid to RFF. The president of ARAF is

. Much of ARAF's early work involves

Réseau Ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (RFF, french: French Rail Network) was a French company which owned and maintained the France, French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, t ...

and track access. A key part of its role is to encourage competition in rail transport, following the

Second Railway Package The Second Railway Package is a group of European Union legislation which promote common standards and open access, working towards an integrated European railway area. History For much of the 20th century, rail transport in Europe was dominate ...

and Third Railway Package. In May 2013, the French government announced plans to reform

SNCF Infra The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail tra ...

and RFF and create a single national infrastructure operator; this may lead to ARAF taking a bigger role in ensuring equal access for other train operators.

References

External links

ARAF website
Rail transport in France Government agencies of France {{France-rail-transport-stub