Intelligent Rail Infrastructure

Digitalization is the key to increased availability, automation, connectivity, and sustainability in rail infrastructure.

Secure connectivity

Secure your data flows and infrastructure with Siemens’ Data Capture Unit (DCU).

Mobility as a Service

Mobility as a Service is not a future vision - it´s already here and establishing a MaaS platform doesn’t need to be complicated.

Mireo Plus decarbonises Europe’s railways

The new Mireo Plus designed from the ground up to offer flexibility, range and efficiency.

The digital transformation of track vacancy detection

Read more how digital add-ons help to reduce maintenance costs and enhance process quality.

Digital asset management for rail systems white paper: An innovative approach

This white paper discusses the topic of asset management for large physical assets in the rail domain. Rail assets require large investments and are operated and maintained over decades. This means that rail assets are ideally positioned to benefit from the methodology and best practices of asset management.

The way is paved for Mireo Plus H

When you listen to Peter Eckert and Nikolaos Papaiordanidis, you can sense their enthusiasm for their shared task of launching Mireo Plus H, the first hydrogen train from Siemens Mobility. Their work on the prototype for testing it under real operating conditions is the culmination of a year’s development that our interviewees helped shape in significant ways. We spoke to them about what really matters in modern trainsets, why this prototype is so interesting, and why it’s also an important part of a larger development.

"Digital St. Andrew's Cross" - Level Crossings with Rail2X Technology

Future-proof digitization is the basis for reliably securing railroad crossings (level crossings) and a basic prerequisite for enabling smooth rail operations in the coming decades. Digital technologies at level crossings are innovations that benefit rail and road traffic. This article explains the new function of a "digital St. Andrew's cross" and describes its added value for the comfort and safety of road traffic. Read more at EIK 2022: www.eurailpress.de/publikationen/eik

Digital S-Bahn Hamburg

Hamburg is growing! According to a recent forecast by the Hamburg Statistics Office, Hamburg will be home to more than 2 million inhabitants in 2031. S-Bahn Hamburg wants to offer all Hamburg residents, tourists and guests a quality mobility service. In view of the city's growth, but also the future above-average growth of up to 50% for the S-Bahn Hamburg due to the expansion of the S-Bahn network with additional lines, the core network of the S-Bahn Hamburg is reaching capacity limits. Read more about Hamburg's Digital S-Bahn at EIK 2022: www.eurailpress.de/publikationen/eik

Level crossings communicate with road traffic – installing and retrofitting Rail2X technology

Future-proof digitalisation provides the basis for dependable safety and security at level crossings and is an absolute prerequisite for punctual, trouble-free rail operations in the coming decades. Innovative digital level crossing technologies promise benefits for rail and road traffic alike. This article explains the new functions that can be realised using the “digital warning cross” and describes the added value they bring to road traffic convenience and safety. Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Autonomous tram finds its way in the depot

The Combino streetcar from Siemens moves quietly and smoothly. Less is more: There is no human intervention whatsoever in the driver's cab. The world's first streetcar with autonomous driving functions was presented by Siemens Mobility and ViP at InnoTrans in 2018. The decisive new feature is the interaction between the autonomously driving vehicle and the YMS yard management system developed by Siemens. Read more at BAHN MANAGER: www.eurailpress.de/bahn-manager

SIL4 Data Center – a new platform architecture for safety-relevant railway applications

The rail sector in Europe is on the verge of a technological leap into the digital future: The "Digital Rail Germany" sector initiative is seizing this opportunity and bringing future technologies to the rail system. The foundation for this is being laid with the fundamental modernization and digitization of the infrastructure through the consistent introduction of the new control and safety technology (LST) European Train Control System (ETCS) and digital interlockings. Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Approach for a Risk Analysis for Automated Train Operation

The ATO-RISK project, which was commissioned by the German Centre for Rail Traffic Research (DZSF), has been given the goal of deriving “risk acceptance criteria for automated driving on railways”,  under the following contractual boundary conditions. Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

100% system availability is feasible

Scarce resources coupled with increasing demands on transport performance and quality are part of everyday life for rail operators. But how can almost 100 percent availability of trains and infrastructure be guaranteed over the entire service life? Read the editorial by our CEO Customer Services, Johannes Emmelheinz, at ETR: www.eurailpress.de/etr

Digital S-Bahn Hamburg - First Trackside Equipment of ATO over ETCS in Germany

The Digital S-Bahn Hamburg project is the first in Germany to realize digitized rail operations with passengers. The main objectives of the project are the conception and realization of highly automated driving on a 23 km long section of the S-Bahn Hamburg as well as a fully automated, driverless provision at Bergedorf station. Read more at DER EISENBAHNINGENIEUR: www.eurailpress.de/ei

The Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) - A successful model for local rail passenger transport

In January 2013, a Europe-wide award procedure was launched for the Rhine-Ruhr Express, which was followed by a concept in local passenger transport for the first time in Germany. This concept focused on lifecycle costs and clear responsibility for the cost structure defined for the long term. Read more about our RRX at Nahverkehrspraxis: www.nahverkehrspraxis.de/emagazin

Optimal placement of roadside infrastructure sensors towards safer autonomous vehicle deployments

Vehicles with driving automation are in-creasingly being developed for deployment across the world. However, the onboard sensing and perception capabilities of such automated or autonomous vehicles(AV) may not be sufficient to ensure safety under all scenarios and contexts. Paper published at ITSC 2021: https://2021.ieee-itsc.org/

ATO over ETCS as the key to greater efficiency, capacity and sustainability

Railways are the backbone of our economy and society. Increasing traffic volumes in both passenger and freight transport are presenting a huge challenge to many carriers. Automatic train operation (ATO) is the answer to today’s challenges; the use of this key technology makes it possible to achieve a higher level of capacity and availability, as well as sustainability in rail infrastructure, while at the same time reducing energy consumption. Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Innovations in CBTC applications

Moving block operations, i.e. driving at braking distance, is the basis for the highest possible throughput and thus the best possible utilisation of a metro system. This function is a core component of communications-based train control systems (CBTC). Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

The reliability of Distributed Juridical Recording

The Siemens Mobility project RailChain deals with the transferability of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies to rail operations and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) in the mFund program. Read more about reliability of Distributed Juridical Recording at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Digital Asset Management for rail systems

Automated Digital Asset Management creates transparency in the performance and cost optimization of rail systems and supports strategically relevant decisions decisions based on business data - data from operations and maintenance as well as artificial intelligence. Read more about our DAM at ETR: www.eurailpress.de/etr

Digitalization in maintenance through chassis diagnostics

The running gear of a rail vehicle is the central component for its safe operation. The bogie carries all the important components for propulsion and braking, determines derailment safety and ride behavior, and has a major influence on ride comfort. It represents the interface to the guideway and must therefore be able to cope with the constraints imposed by the guideway. How can we reduce maintenance costs and maintain safety levels through an intelligent running gear diagnostics system? Read more at DER NAHVERKEHR: www.busundbahn.de/publikationen/der-nahverkehr

The new airfree brake system from Siemens Brakes

From the perspective and with the experience of a vehicle manufacturer, the internal business unit Siemens Brakes, successfully implements the optimum brake system for a wide range of Siemens Mobility applications and is an integral part of the MoComp portfolio. All vehicle manufacturers are predominantly still using conventional air brake technology for their brake systems. The motivation for the development was to design a real alternative to the conventional pneumatic brake system. Read more at DER EISENBAHNINGENIEUR: www.eurailpress.de/etr

Improved mobile radio reception through frequency-permeable windows in the cost-benefit analysis

The requirement of being able to make calls with the mobile phone anytime and anywhere and to receive data at high speed requires good network coverage. The conditions for this are particularly bad on regional and high-speed trains. The aim is to show which parameters influence the design of the side windows and how the glass can be manipulated in such a way that cell phone reception is also possible in the Velaro MS. Read more at ZEVrail: www.zevrail.de

Siemens in developing a Collision Warning Assistant for Mainline

Siemens has been equipping its trams with a collision warning system, the Siemens Tram Assistant, at the customer’s request since 2017, which reliably detects collision risks, warns the driver, or brakes the vehicle if the driver can no longer react. Read more about our Collision Warning Assistant at ZEVrail: www.zevrail.de

Digital twins, maximum availability and new technologies

Punctuality, comfort, and reliability are decisive factors for travelers using public transport. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) links all mobility offerings and brings passengers comfortably to their destination across multiple modes of transport. Together with the transportation companies, Siemens Mobility will adapt mobility offerings even more closely to customer expectations. Read the editorial by Devina Pasta at ZEVrail: www.zevrail.de

Digital S-Bahn Hamburg

The pilot project "Digital S-Bahn Hamburg" shows how digitalization can improve the performance of urban transportation in growing cities. Read more about our Digital S-Bahn Hamburg and Germany's first implementation of ATO over ECTS at SIGNAL+DRAHT: www.eurailpress.de/sd

The development of the new DS3 safety platform

Proprietary solutions for an overall "interlocking" functionality are separated into functional interlocking logic and intrinsically safe outdoor control with standardized IP-based communication interfaces. This architectural change to the "Digital Interlocking" (DSTW) offers the possibility of complete centralization of safety-related railroad applications such as interlocking logic and RBC logic. Read more about our DS3 safety platform at SIGNAL+DRAHT: www.eurailpress.de/sd

RBC simulation for real ETCS test runs

Bottlenecks often arise when planning and conducting ETCS Level 2 (L2) tests because of the current limited availability of tracks for test runs in the L2 mode. This article shows how this difficulty can be overcome. Read more about it at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Secure cloud-based solution for Asset Performance Management

Industry 4.0, Big Data and digital transformation are topics we have to deal with in today's railroad age. This article presents the Clearguard Performance Monitoring (CPM) application as an example of asset performance management for a supplier of track vacancy detection system components such as axle counters and track circuits. Read more at SIGNAL+DRAHT: www.eurailpress.de/sd

The added value of digitalization in maintenance using the Example of chassis diagnostics

The running gear of a rail vehicle is the central component for the safe operation of a rail vehicle. The running gear carries all the important components for propulsion and braking, determines derailment safety and handling, and has a significant influence on ride comfort. Presentation on the paper was published at Monitoring Rad-Schiene 2021.

Integration of CBTC systems in rail vehicles

Increasing demand for transport worldwide requires efficient automated rail transport systems. In some cases, this will require new lines and vehicle fleets. This article describes the aspects to be considered when integrating new signaling systems in vehicles. Read more about the integration of CBTC systems at ETR: www.eurailpress.de/etr

Modeling the life cycle costs of overhead contact line systems

As a result of a research cooperation between the Technical University of Dresden and Siemens Mobility GmbH, a method for probabilistic modeling of the life cycle costs of overhead contact line systems was developed. To demonstrate the possibilities of the resulting software tool, the Re200 and SicatSX designs are subjected to a technical-economic comparison. Read more at eb-Elektrische Bahnen: www.eb-info.eu

Harmonious coexistence between train and general radio telecommunications

One of the side-effects of the world’s ever greater enthusiasm for digitalisation and wireless networking is reciprocal radio interference. This poses questions for the railroad sector too, not least because the second level of the ETCS train protection system that is now starting to come into use relies on GSM-R and future mobile communication standards rather than wired signals. This article considers the difficulties currently being faced and possible ways of resolving them. Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eruailpress.de/sd

Innovative use cases for 5G in public transport

5G is the next step in the development of mobile communications - and this leap is enormous. The technical characteristics, such as the data flow in 5G, are impressive. Read more about whether 5G technology represents an evolution or revolution for public transport at SIGNAL+DRAHT: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Additive Manufacturing comes to rail

With increasing demands on availability and response time, conventional manufacturing processes are reaching their limits. Additive manufacturing closes this gap and adds a high-end digital manufacturing technology to the railroad world. Read more about our Additive Manufacturing at ETR: www.eurailpress.de/etr

Towards a European interoperable cybersecurity standard

European rail operations and solution providers have been working together since 2016 to lay a basis for an interoperable European cybersecurity standard in rail automation. Read more about what this entails at SIGNAL+DRAHT: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Track Monitoring Smartphone-App

Cost-effective, minimally invasive and mobile monitoring of rail infrastructure condition using smartphone sensor technology. Read more about our track monitoring smartphone app at DER EISENBAHNGENIEUR: www.eurailpress.de/ei

3D-printing for rail transport

Siemens Mobility has built a highly component and specialized global network that optimizes the use of 3D-printing to manufacture a wide variety of rail transport components. Read more about our 3D-printing for rail transport at ETR: www.eurailpress.de/etr

Vectron Dual Mode - keeps going where the wire ends

Vectron Dual Mode is the answer for today’s transport challenges. Building on the mature technology of Eurorunner ER20 and Vectron DE, it offers the flexibility of a large mainline diesel locomotive. Learn more about our Vectron Dual Mode at ZEVrail: www.zevrail.de

Focussing on passengers, stations & trains – demand-driven operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Global developments, such as those currently being experienced with the pandemic, are permanently changing our everyday lives and, as a result, the behavior of metro system passengers. But what does this mean in concrete terms? This article highlights a previous, exemplary process for creating a schedule and addresses challenges of station utilization. Learn how already available technologies can be used to create a timetable based on automated recording of passenger flows in stations according to demand. Read more at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Hydrogen train at Siemens Mobility: A total package

Siemens is also betting on hydrogen trains, Hanse Medien-Verlag learned from Siemens Mobility. Read the entire interview with Albrecht Neumann, our CEO Rolling Stock, at BAHN MANAGER: www.eurailpress.de/bahn-manager

Mireo - Innovative regional and commuter platform from Siemens Mobility

More and more people around the world live in and around urban centers and want to be mobile. The average speed on the roads in many large cities is already less than 20 kilometers per hour and will continue to fall. As a result, regional and local public transport is becoming increasingly important compared to private transport. Read more about our Mireo at the Rail Yearbook 2021 Switzerland: www.editionlan.ch/eisenbahn/Bahn-Jahrbuch/Bahn-Jahrbuch-Schweiz-2021

The digital road traffic

The digital twin of road traffic is the virtual mirror image of the technical traffic infrastructure and the interaction of road users in the overall system. They are already being used today to develop and test solutions from traffic engineering. But the potential of digital doubles is far from exhausted. Read more about this at the GSV Yearbook Austria: www.gsv.co.at

Teaching trams how to drive

Using our test drives at ViP Verkehrsbetrieb Potsdam GmbH, we are starting down the road towards smart and auonomous trams. Read more about our autonomated trams at DER NAHVERKEHR: www.busundbahn.de/publikationen/der-nahverkehr

Up and running, guaranteed

One hundred percent availability of vehicles and infrastructure over their entire service life is the basis for efficiently functioning railway systems. The Customer Services Business Unit of Siemens Mobility has been proving for many years, in the UK, Russia, Spain, Thailand and other countries, that practically 100% system. Read more at Modern Railways: www.modernrailways.com

Saving Energy in Rolling Stock

Siemens Mobility’s key criteria in designing rolling stock are safety, the passenger experience, and lifecycle costs. In modern MRT systems, a train’s lifecycle costs are mainly driven by the costs of maintenance and energy. Throughout the designed service life of an MRT train, the train investment costs, maintenance costs, and energy costs contribute in approximately equal parts to the overall cost. How can energy costs be reduced? Learn more at THE SINGAPORE ENGINEER: https://issuu.com/desmond6/docs/tse_oct_20_web

Increased network availability with the intelligent operation of level crossing protection systems

In addition to the reliable technical protection of level crossings, there is also the challenge of ensuring a long life cycle of the level crossing protection systems in terms of investment protection, as these are often operated in the field for more than 40 years. Read more about our newly developed functions of the Simis LC at Signal+Draht: www.eurailpress.de/sd

Information Management builds on BIM

Siemens Mobility has undertaken a proof of concept trial based on a light rail project in Denmark to showcase how advanced information management techniques can complement BIM, potentially opening the door to more transparent management of major infrastructure schemes. Read more about BIM at RAILWAY GAZETTE INTERNATIONAL: www.railwaygazette.com

Commissioning the Warnemünde digital interlocking

The Digital Rail Germany program is the ubiquitous topic in the signaling industry sector. The important project milestones for digitization are the pilot projects for reference implementation and the subsequent pre-series projects. Read more about the successful commissioning of the first digital interlocking (DSTW) within the pre-series projects, the DSTW Warnemünde at Signal+Draht: www.eruailpress.de/sd

Siemens Vectron Dual Mode: More ecology, less costs

BAHN MANAGER spoke with Siemens development engineer Jochen Emde about the new offering in the Siemens portfolio: "The Vectron is already a well-known, successful locomotive from Siemens. Now it is also available in the Dual Mode variant. What is so special about this locomotive? Read the whole interview in BAHN MANAGER: www.eurailpress.de/bahn-manager

Condition monitoring of over-head railroad lines with camera drones

In the BMVI-funded SMARAGD project, Siemens, DLR and Copting are investigating airborne methods for predictive maintenance of rail infrastructure. Read more about our condition monitoring of overhead rail lines at DER EISENBAHNINGENIEUR: www.eurailpress.de/ei

Intelligent solutions for the railroad of the future

On the way to climate-neutral mobility, the quality of the rail sector must be massively strengthened in order to fulfill the politically and socially desired backbone function of transport. Progressive digitization is making decisive contributions to this with sector-specific IT solutions. Read the entire editorial by Dr. Lars Löwenstein at ZEVrail: www.zevrail.de