railways

ACRI Photos.

This year’s InnoTrans trade fair, which took place a few days ago in Berlin, ended with an outstanding success for the Czech railway industry. More than 30 members of the Czech Railway Industry Association (Asociace podniků českého železničního průmyslu, ACRI) exhibited their products and cutting-edge technologies. In addition to new business deals, Czech companies also received international awards for their products.

“The Czech Republic is one of the most successful participants at this year’s InnoTrans trade fair. In addition to presenting products that attracted the most attention, such as the ComfortJet high-speed trains for ČD with a speed of 230 km/h, the internationally awarded tram for Bonn in Germany or the Dual Shunter 2000 dual-mode locomotive, securing new orders worth more than a billion CZK (EUR 40 million) is excellent news for the further development of the Czech railway industry, which is among the leading railway innovation companies in Europe,” said Marie Vopálenská, CEO of the Czech Railway Industry Association (ACRI).

The importance of participating in the InnoTrans trade fair was underlined by the presence of representatives of the ministries and the Chamber of Deputies. The Czech exhibition stand was officially opened by the Minister of Transport Martin Kupka: “The Czech railway industry is one of the key sectors of our economy, which not only keeps pace with foreign competitors, but surpasses them in many areas. Our manufacturers are actively developing the latest technologies, systems and components that are used on both the domestic and foreign markets. Thanks to our research and development, Czech companies contribute to the development of innovative solutions that meet the strictest standards of modern transport, especially in the field of high-speed railways “With new routes being built in the Czech Republic soon, Czech manufacturers play a significant role. Their ability to offer advanced technologies allows us to be at the forefront not only in Europe but also in the global market.”

The deputy chairman of the Economic Committee of the Czech Parliament, Martin Kolovratník, added: “Participation in such trade fairs is very important for the promotion of individual manufacturers and the entire railway industry. In their exhibitions, the companies focused on sustainability, innovation, digitalization and products for high-speed railways. There is no better proof of the attractiveness of their offers on foreign markets than the newly signed contracts. I was also pleased with the introduction of the most modern ComfortJet trains on the Prague – Berlin route. Czech industry contributes not only to production of the train, but the Czech Republic is also gaining a reputation as a country capable of shaping the dynamic development of European railways. Personally, I took this train to Berlin and was very pleasantly surprised.”

Selected Czech railway companies assessed their participation in the InnoTrans trade fair as follows:

• AMiT:
As in previous years, our participation in InnoTrans was very positive, especially with regard to the overall volume of future projects. During the four-day InnoTrans 2024 trade fair, we held almost 200 formal and informal meetings, including meetings with existing customers and new, interesting contacts. Trade fair visitors could see our large-format screens from afar, showing video presentations of AMiT’s products, references, certifications and completed projects for global rail vehicle manufacturers. Real product demonstrations were also offered and visitors were able to try out AMiT’s audio and video systems on a fully functional project installed at our stand.

• ALWAYS:
At the 2024 InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin, AŽD successfully signed an important strategic cooperation agreement with the Australian company DOWNER EDI RAIL PTY LIMITED. The aim of this collaboration is to supply signaling systems for railways in Australia and New Zealand. In addition, important meetings were held with the management of the Hungarian, Polish and Serbian railways. Further negotiations also took place, opening up opportunities for AŽD for future international cooperation.

• BONATRANS:
Our participation in InnoTrans was a complete success. We have signed new contracts worth approximately CZK 400 million (EUR 16 million) for wheel sets for freight wagons and wheels for the maintenance of locomotives and passenger trains. We have held approximately 250 meetings with customers and suppliers from more than 50 countries worldwide.

• ASSENGERA:
We have signed another contract in Azerbaijan and confirmed further business opportunities, which we expect to close in the coming months. At the same time, this was a valuable opportunity to meet customers from all over the world.

• SVUM:
For SVÚM as, the biggest benefit of participating in the trade fair was that we were able to meet many existing and potential business partners and talk about business opportunities and other cooperation opportunities. A big advantage was the opportunity to hold workshops with colleagues from other industries, which allowed us to follow trends in materials development and technological innovations. We have also signed contracts worth about CZK 1.5 million and discussed additional orders worth about CZK 1 million for 2025.

• SVV Prague:
At our stand we met some of our most important existing customers and also had discussions with potential future business partners with whom we discussed possibilities for joint projects. As a result of the discussions, we expect future business orders worth around EUR 40,000 for 2025.

• ŠKODA GROUP:
We can rate the InnoTrans trade fair very positively. We have held hundreds of meetings with customers from our markets and key partners. We presented our award-winning tram for Bonn, our ComfortJet train for Czech Railways and our digital and signaling technology. During the trade fair we signed an option worth 25 million euros to expand the capacity of our trams in Tampere, Finland. Although the trade fair is over, we are already preparing for the next event in two years.

• T-CZ:
Our participation in InnoTrans 2024 was very successful in terms of the development of T-CZ’s business activities. We were able to inform new and existing customers about the expansion of our product portfolio through the use of AI (artificial intelligence) and its use in the railway industry. We confirmed that video segmentation, autonomous driving and predictive diagnostics are the directions in which the railway world will move in the coming years. In the area of ​​radio communication in rail transport, the clear future direction is to support FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System), and we are pleased that we were able to make new technical and business contacts in this progressive sector at InnoTrans.

• VÚKV:
The main advantage for VÚKV was the opportunity to meet most of our customers in person and discuss future orders. As for the newly concluded contracts, we have reached a volume of around CZK 30 million (EUR 1,184 million), not only from Europe but also from nearby or more distant parts of Asia. A highlight of our participation was winning the RAILWAY AWARD 2024 in the Railway Association’s TOP EMPLOYER RAILWAY & RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY category.

WKZ, Quelle ACRI

Photo VDV.

After a three-year development phase, the new mobility network education (“MoNet Education”) – the platform for exchange, networking, further training and knowledge in public transport – was presented at the 3rd VDV Education Conference.

“The platform comes at the right time. Because not only the world of work is changing rapidly, but also the way we learn. Companies are looking for tailor-made training opportunities for their teams because new tasks are emerging in all areas. Colleagues prefer self-determined, collaborative and independent forms of learning,” says Harald Kraus, Chairman of the Board of the VDV Academy e. V. and Chairman of the VDV Personnel Committee. The award for excellent digital learning in public transport was also presented for the third time at the education conference. Harald Kraus: “My warmest congratulations to National Express Rail GmbH and the Innovation Center for Railway Technology and Mobility as well as the Bonn public utilities: They are pioneers in what they do, we can learn from their innovations.”

The need for future-oriented training in public transport companies will inevitably increase in the coming years. The shortage of skilled workers, demographic developments and the digitization of the world of work will increase this need even further. This is why the industry association VDV, the Technical University of Ilmenau, the VDV Academy and twelve network and associated partners in the NetÖV project have developed the mobility network education (MoNet Bildung) for the industry. NetÖV was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) through the INVITE innovation competition. The focus is on self-determined, collaborative and independent learning, taking into account the individual living and working circumstances of each learner. Harald Kraus: “The platform follows the New Learning concept, derived from the New Work concept. MoNet Bildung offers a comprehensive continuing education database that provides an overview of the diverse knowledge and education offerings in the industry. In the knowledge exchange, technical discussions are held in the six topic areas of operations and technology, health and safety, innovation and the future, marketing and sales, personnel and education, and quality and law.”

Award for excellent digital learning in public transport

The winners were National Express Rail GmbH and the Innovation Center for Railway Technology and Mobility (IZBTM) with their “Digital Twin for Railway Training” and Stadtwerke Bonn with their tram app for drivers “EDNEXT”. A wide range of entries were submitted for the industry-wide competition. The jury is made up of the previous year’s prize winners and employees of the VDV Academy.

The digital twin is a multimedia, interactive, virtual locomotive training that accelerates and improves the quality of locomotive training through high-quality, detailed graphics. The “EDNEXT” app was developed for tram training. The aim is to accompany the trainee drivers with the native smartphone app and to connect them with the training staff. Existing tasks are completed and individual tasks are set by the trainer.

• Stadtwerke Verkehrsgemeinschaft Frankfurt a. M.: E-learning compulsory training “Compliance at VGF – traveling safely”.
•Munich Municipal Utilities: compulsory digital training “Special signalling operations in the mobility sector – annual training on blue lights” as well as a learning video with quiz interaction “Emergency stop on the platform”.

“Nominees and award winners are leading the way in digital teaching and are leading the way. There is great potential in the companies from which other companies can benefit. I invite all transport companies to share and receive knowledge,” says Harald Kraus. “‘MoNet Education’ will play a relevant role in the future. This is where the public transport sector can network, exchange ideas, learn and become experts,” Kraus concludes.

Press release Association of German Transport Companies (VDV)