The EBA is the inspectorate and authorising body for the majority of German domestic, railway infrastructure companies that are owned by the government, referred to as federal railways (
Eisenbahnen des Bundes or
EdB), and for German and foreign railway transport operators in Germany. Non federally owned public railways and privately operated railways are under the supervision of the German states (
Bundesländer), who can choose to transfer this responsibility to the EBA (§ 5 Abs. 2 AEG). To date 11 states, with the exception of
Berlin,
Bremen,
Hamburg,
Hesse and
Lower Saxony have chosen to do so. In such cases the EBA works under the direction of the states. Since 1 January 2007 the EBA has run the railway vehicle register for Germany in accordance with § 5 Abs. 1e of the General Railway Law (
Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz or
AEG) and the EU guidelines in §25a of the AEG and is therefore responsible for the issue of vehicle index and classification numbers. The EBA has a flat organisational structure. Over 300 employees work at its headquarters in
Bonn on the core issues, and another 1,000 people carry out the operational work of inspections and authorisations, occasionally on the spot, in twelve branches at 15 locations. Also within the purview of the Federal Railway Office is the responsibility for investigating railway accidents. In addition, the EBA has also taken on the responsibility for the approval and oversight of
maglev railways under the General Maglev Law (
Allgemeines Magnetschwebebahngesetz or
AMbG). Since 1 January 2006 the
Federal Network Agency (
Bundesnetzagentur) has been responsible for overseeing access to the railway infrastructure. Detailed regulations contain rules about the non-discriminatory access to railway infrastructure and the principles for granting rewards for the use of railway infrastructure under the Railway Infrastructure User Regulation (
Eisenbahninfrastruktur-Benutzungsverordnung or
EIBV). == History ==