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Viola Sütö CV

LegalRail is the only legal service company in the Netherlands which is totally specialised in Railway law. The founder of LegalRail, Mrs. Viola Sütö, is well known in the Dutch railway market as a legal service provider as well as railway law scientist.

 

Experience Viola Sütö

 

Railway law… for almost 30 years

Viola was the legal project manager from the Ministry of Transport in the corporatisation of NS, the incumbent national railway company (1997-2002). She was also the legal project manager for the Dutch State of the introduced “competition for rail concessions” which was rolled out for regional railway lines (1998-2002).

She was one of the leading lawyers of the team who drafted the Regulation on Compensation for damages concerning the construction of 108 new infra-kilometres for the Betuweroute, a Dutch freight railway (1998-1999). She acted for several years in the ‘project team Betuweroute’ which had to judge about compensation claims (1998-2002).

Viola was as a project manager involved in the establishment of the Transport and Rail Section at the Dutch Competition Authority (2003).

In a team where various specialisms were represented, she was legal advisor on the side of the new infrastructure manager (ultimately Keyrail) for the Betuweroute. In this role she negotiated and co-drafted the concession for the Betuweroute, the main route for railway freight transport from the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to Germany (opened in 2006).

 

LegalRail, clients and cases

Over the past 20 years, LegalRail has built up a substantial client base in the rail industry. These include companies and government bodies requiring specific legal expertise in railway law.

 

The client base of LegalRail comprises large Dutch and international companies and different devises of the Dutch State. She acts as lawyer for international train operating companies - both freight and passenger transport (f. ex. Arriva, Qbuzz, Veolia, Burando Rail, Rotterdam Rail Feeding, Rail Force One, Lineas and Rurtalbahn Benelux) and their (re)insurers (f. ex., Amlin and AON), for railway constructors (i.a. Strukton Rail and VolkerRail), rail equipment builders (f. ex. Voith and Vossloh) and for companies as the Port of Rotterdam.

Viola has dealt with and deals with several railway accidents in the Netherlands and its liability consequences. As legal service provider or arbitrator she is involved in a number of serious rail accidents abroad, f. ex. in Germany and in Belgium.

Furthermore she is active in several national and international homologation proceedings for rail equipment. She acts as legal professional in files for cross-border train connections as the so-called ‘three-country train’ that connects Aken (G) – Maastricht (NL) – Luik (B) and for the new connection Coevorden (NL) – Bad Bentheim (G). The opening is scheduled for 2026.

She defended successfully engine drivers involved in railway accidents and acts for railway companies which are prosecuted. In the mean time she prepares and negotiates railway contracts for her clients, both national and international. She has a broad experience in both national and cross-border transactions. Viola acted in several cases as arbitrator.

Viola was fellow at the University of Leiden (2000-2022), were she received her PhD in 2004. She has lectured at university for more than 20 years, specifically in the Masters of Civil Law and Liability. Concerning Railway Law, she initiated a yearly Post Academic Course at Leiden University, which is unique in the Netherlands.

She is a board member of several Associations and companies in the field of law, and an active scientific publisher. Among others, she is Member of the Jury for the thesis prize of the Association of Transport Law.

 

Secondary activities