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. and
Pierre Cardo was appointed as its first president. ARAF is funded by a levy on track access fees paid to
RFF. The president of ARAF is
Pierre Cardo.
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 French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, the train ...
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 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