The European Commission has set railway policy to encourage the liberalisation of the railway industry across all European Union member states. A single market for railway services is envisaged as a means to improve the competitiveness of the railways with other modes of transportation. A key piece of the legislation implemented in response to this policy, is the Railway Safety Directive. This legislation recognises that it is not just technical and procedural harmonisation that is required to create an effective internal market for railway services in Europe. Safety Management practices must also be harmonised. One of the elements of the directive is the requirements that all Railway Undertakings (who run train services) and Infrastructure Managers (who maintain the railway network) in European members states implement a Safety Management System which meets certain criteria and is certified by the relevant National Safety Authority. The European research projects SAMRAIL (Safety Management in Railways) and SAMNET (Safety Management and Interoperability Thematic Network for Railways) were funded by the Commission to investigate and to propose practical approaches to help implementation of the requirements in the Railway Safety Directives. As part of this research detailed guidance on how to structure and implement a Safety Management System that was suitable for and compatible with Europe's future railway environment was produced. In this paper we describe those aspects of the Railway Safety Directive relating to Safety Management Systems, including the proposed certification requirements, and outline the proposals made by SAMRAIL and SAMNET for effectively implementing safety management systems