Elmer van Buuren has been working in rail and public transport for over 25 years. He fulfilled many different operational roles, which provided him with in-depth knowledge of how trains are operated. After 11 years in various positions at Netherlands’ Railways NS, he briefly worked as a consultant, before founding the private night train-startup European Sleeper. As managing director, he is, among other things, responsible for future projects, network development, industry collaborations, and public- and regulatory affairs. Elmer is active within ALLRAIL because he believes strongly that competition will benefit the passenger. At the same time, the European rail network is one, and a constructive approach will make the pie larger for the whole sector.

MTR is regarded as one of the world's leading railway operators for safety, reliability, customer service and cost efficiency. As a new entrant on a market with high barriers to entry, it is vital that the rules are transparent, reasonable and applied in a non-discriminatory fashion. MTR strives to achieve a level playing field in order to be able to compete with the old incumbent and often state-owned rail operators in Europe. Erik Hellners is a corporate and competition law attorney with substantial in-house legal experience with a strong commercial focus.

Tony Berkeley is a founder Board member of ALLRAIL, and retired director of the European Rail Freight Association and Chairman of the Rail Freight Group in the UK. He has worked on European rail issues for many years since helping to build the Channel Tunnel and is a member of the UK House of Lords. Tony was Vice Chairman of the Oakervee Review, set up by the Prime Minister in August 2019 to report on whether HS2 should be built or not. He is a member of the ‘Goods Sub-Committee’ of the House of Lords European Committee. He lives in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly with his wife Marian.

Both his parents were in the railways, his father Giuseppe is considered a pioneer in the liberalisation of the Italian freight and passenger markets. The lure of the railway was something written in Matteo’s DNA, therefore in 2021, with a pool of investors, he founded Arenaways Longitude Holding S.r.l. with the ambitious mission to redefine the train travel experience. Backed by an excellent corporate structure, the Company starts its operations with a 10-years contract to reactivate two suspended lines in the Piemonte region and prove that a different way of doing public transport in Italy is possible and works. Matteo has always been an enthusiast supporter of ALLRAIL, because he firmly believes that the train will play a key role in the mobility of the future and that a free market is the answer.

From 2020 to April 2022 Alix served as Mobility and Infrastructures Advisor for the French Minister in charge of territorial cohesion and relationships with local authorities. She started her career at SNCF as contract manager of a public regional railways network. Alix also worked as regional Head of Public Affairs and Public Consultation for the infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau. She worked then as Mobility and Infrastructure Adviser to the French regions association as they wanted to share their expertise together and lead negotiations together with SNCF, which was still a monopoly. She had then the opportunity to widen her expertise becoming Deputy of the General Director of Région Pays de la Loire in charge of mobility. Alix graduated in 2019 from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration and holds a double master degree in political sciences and public transport operations.

Michael Mittag has joined Flix in 2013 and held various positions over the time, building up both the private long distance bus and train market. As Director Network Planning and Market Access, he drives the expansion of FlixTrain and stand ups for fair competition in the Railway sector. Since 2021 Michael is Board member of the German association Mofair e.V., a partner of ALLRAIL.

Thomas Posch has been working in the railway industry since 1997. After 15 years in various positions with ÖBB and as Head of Services and Network Development with the Railteam Alliance in Amsterdam he joined WESTbahn in 2013. He had been responsible for sales and marketing as Chief Commercial Officer before he took over the positions as Managing Director of WESTbahn and Spokesman of the Board of Rail Holding in March 2022. Since then WESTbahn saw a strong network extension and increasing passenger demand proving that a private railway company can provide benefits to the customers while at the same time being economically sound. Thomas considers Allrail as key for overcoming obstacles still in place for private operators, but requests full focus on economic needs instead of fundamental liberalisation positions.

Alvaro Ungurean is a dedicated professional from the travel tech industry. Currently serving as the Commercial Director, Europe - International Train at Trip.com Group, he passionately believes that rail passenger transportation is a key element of the multimodal network. In this role, Alvaro oversees the company's international train operations across Europe. Alvaro is an advocate for an open and competitive rail market, firmly believing in the transformative power of market openness to drive innovation, efficiency, and consumer choice within the rail industry. He fully supports ALLRAIL's commendable efforts in creating a level playing field, fostering fair competition, and championing policies that promote equitable opportunities for all stakeholders, and which will ultimately be most beneficial for rail passengers.