German Centre for Rail Traffic Research

The German Centre for Rail Traffic Research (German: Deutsches Zentrum für Schienenverkehrsforschung (DZSF)) is an independent, technical-scientific departmental research institution of the Federal Government. It was founded on May 23, 2019, and is located as an independent federal institute at the Eisenbahn-Bundesamt.^[3] Its mission is to strengthen rail transport in Germany through application and solution-oriented research.

German Centre for Rail Traffic Research

Deutsches Zentrum für Schienenverkehrsforschung
Abbreviation	DZSF
Formation	2019-03-23
Type	Government agency
Headquarters	Dresden and Bonn
Region served	Germany
Membership	Eisenbahn-Bundesamt
Official language	German
Owner	Federal Government of Germany
Leader	Corinna Salander[1]
Staff	60[2]
Website	https://www.dzsf.bund.de/

The budget for 2019 was 5 million euros and was expected to increase to 20 million euros in 2020.^[4] 2020 staff should be built up first and the research content (along the federal research program) should be specified later.^[5]

Tasks

The coalition agreement for the 19th Election Period foresees a German Centre for Rail Transport Research (DZSF). This center should document research findings, manage and coordinate research projects, and also carry out research itself. This is intended to achieve a more effective use of resources and a lasting strengthening of railway traffic as a mode of transport.

The DZSF deals with the central issues of the railway sector as defined in the Federal Rail Research Program and provides solutions for them. Research fields are

• Economic efficiency
• Environment and sustainable Mobility, and
• Safety.

The cross-cutting topics of digitalization, automation, migration, and legal issues are assigned to these three topic areas. These cross-cutting topics complement the integrative approach of the federal research program.