In order to be allowed to manage and operate a rail infrastructure, the infrastructure manager shall obtain a safety authorisation from the national safety authority in the Member State where the rail infrastructure is located.

The safety authorisation shall comprise an authorisation confirming acceptance of the infrastructure manager's safety management system as provided for in Article 9, and shall include the procedures and provisions fulfilling the requirements necessary for the safe design, maintenance and operation of the railway infrastructure, including, where appropriate, the maintenance and operation of the traffic control and signalling system.

The national safety authority shall explain the requirements for the safety authorisations and the documents required, where appropriate in the form of an application guidance document.

The safety authorisation shall be valid for 5 years and may be renewed upon application by the infrastructure manager. It shall be wholly or partly revised whenever substantial changes are made to the infrastructure, signalling or energy subsystems or to the principles of their operation and maintenance. The infrastructure manager shall inform the national safety authority of all such changes without delay.

The national safety authority may require that the safety authorisation be revised following substantial changes to the safety regulatory framework.

The national safety authority shall take a decision on an application for safety authorisation without delay and in any event not more than 4 months after all the information required and any supplementary information requested has been submitted by the applicant.

The national safety authority shall inform the Agency without delay, and in any event within 2 weeks, of the safety authorisations that have been issued, renewed, amended or revoked. It shall state the name and address of the infrastructure manager, the issue date, scope and period of validity of the safety authorisation and, in the event of revocation, the reasons for its decision.

In the case of cross-border infrastructure, the competent national safety authorities shall cooperate in order to issue the safety authorisations.