4th advisory board meeting of the Rail Safety Campus
at InnoTrans 2024
On September 24, 2024, the 4th advisory board meeting of the Rail Safety Campus (RSC) took place as part of InnoTrans, one of the world’s leading trade fairs for transport technology. This meeting, held in a special and inspiring environment in the CityCube Berlin, took place at the joint stand of InterEngineer (IE) and the Rail Safety Campus.
The session brought together key players in the rail industry. In addition to the training manager Lucas Zarecky and the managing directors Alexander Milosavljević (RSC) and Lars Lange (IE), industry experts such as Dr.-Ing. Lars Müller, Head of Business Line Testing Services at DB Systemtechnik GmbH, Guido Fiefstück, Managing Director of Railway Approvals Germany GmbH, Dr.-Ing. Christian Mängel, Head of Safety at Stadler Deutschland GmbH and spokesperson for the RAMS working group in the German Railway Industry Association, and Prof. Marco Brey, Professor of Track-guided Transport Systems at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences. These experts exchanged views on current challenges associated with the mobility transition and the 4th Railway Package.
The discussion focused on the topic of “education”, particularly with regard to the demands placed on skilled workers and companies by the restructuring of the rail industry in the course of the mobility transition. An innovative vision was presented: The implementation of a reliable Safety Management System (SMS) and the training of qualified safety managers should help to significantly reduce waiting times after the conversion of rail vehicles in the future. Currently, it can take up to five months after a so-called retrofit, i.e. a technical conversion, before the vehicle can be put back into operation. With the new vision, however, it should be possible to put the vehicle into operation as soon as all the necessary documents have been submitted.
This measure could not only minimize project risks, but also significantly increase the availability of vehicles by avoiding capacity bottlenecks. Especially in times when rail infrastructure is becoming increasingly important and the demand for efficient and sustainable transport solutions is growing, such a procedure could play an important role. Optimizing the processes surrounding the conversion and approval of vehicles is therefore of central importance for the future of the rail industry.
The participants at the advisory board meeting were extremely satisfied with the results of the discussion and the approaches developed. The cooperation between the various players in the industry, who are working together to find solutions to the challenges of the future, is particularly noteworthy. The Rail Safety Campus and InterEngineer look forward to driving this vision forward and gradually turning it into reality.
Special thanks go to everyone involved in the advisory board meeting, whose expertise and commitment helped to make this progress possible. We are already looking forward to the next meeting in order to take further steps towards a safer and more efficient rail infrastructure.
