Michael Nahler

Head of Digital Transformation

Title

ÖBB’s four steps approach to the Digital Twin of the Railway Infrastructure

Sub headings

Creating a near time shadow of the digital track and assets
Changing business processes for data input to the digital twin
Value of use cases for the digital twin

Bio

Michael Nahler has been part of the IT community for 35 years, he studied computer engineering in Vienna and worked seven years in international projects with IBM. After that he was responsible for the enterprise architecture in the postmerger of A1 Telekom and changed to ÖBB Holding as Chief Information Architect 2013. 2018 he was Head of IT of ÖBB Infrastructure and currently leads the enterprise architecture and digital transformation of ÖBB infrastructure. His mindset is characterized by the holistic view of people, strategy, processes, systems and data.

Roland Moser

Head of SBB Technology Office

Title

The planning pyramid – Towards more capacity for alpine rails

Sub headings

How do we plan the rail network today, and how should we do it in the future?
A paradigm shift in how to prioritize rolling stock tech, smart timetabling, track layouts, ATO and infrastructure
An example on how SBB applies the new concept for a planned project

Bio

Roland Moser is the Head of the SBB Technology Office. Before joining SBB in January 2021, he served in various global corporate technology management roles at General Electric (GE) and Alstom.

He is the current chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC), the European technology platform for the rail sector.

Roland holds an MSc and PhD in Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He held various research positions with NASA, the Stanford Research Institute and the University of Tokyo prior to starting his industrial career managing the electronic engineering department of a Swiss textile machinery manufacturer.

He is author and co-author of over 20 peer reviewed journal papers, over 30 peer reviewed conference publications and over 20 patents in the field of sensors, robotics, machine tools and magnetic levitation. Roland was scientific advisor to the Institute of Production and Robotics of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), winner of the 2010 Europ/Euron Technology Transfer Award and finalist of the 2010 IEEE-IFR Invention and Entrepreneurship Award. Roland won two times an Alstom Innovation Award and was a finalist in the 2018 Global New Venture Challenge with an electric motorbike project.

Fabio Senesi

Head of Unit - ERTMS National Plan

Title

How to take forward the ERTMS for a modern European railway system

Sub headings

ERTMS Deployment in Italy
Advantages of ERTMS
Tender strategy in Italy

Bio

Fabio Senesi graduated in Electronic Engineering in 1991 and obtained a PhD in Applied Electromagnetism in Rome University ‘La Sapienza’. Since 1994 he has worked at Ferrovie dello Stato covering many roles in technical management to develop and implement innovative signalling and telecommunication systems, such as the new electronic interlocking of Roma Termini (1999) and CTC system. In 2002 Fabio was responsible for developing and implementing the new Automatic Train Control System for the new Italian high-speed network (ETCS Level 2) and for all RFI conventional lines (Class B system SCMT and SSC). In 2007 Fabio obtained a MBA from UIC at HEC School of Management. In 2010-2011 he was responsible of the Inspection and Audit sector of the new Italian National Safety Agency. In 2012 Fabio became Head in RFI of Train Control and Command System and TLC, responsible also for the ERTMS new application (High Speed, Commuter Lines, TEN-T Corridors, Use of Satellite). In 2012-2014 Fabio was President of the GEIEE ERTMS User Group and in 2014 was nominated Team Leader for RFI in IP2 section (signalling and TLC) of Shift2Rail research programme. Concerning the Pilot Line Fabio is the Project Reference.

Daniel Forsmann

Head of Processes & Digitalization for Infrastructure Projects

Title

Digitalizing Infrastructure Project Delivery: BIM & more at DB Netz AG

Sub headings

Challenges: Why digitalization is not an option, but a must-have for our infrastructure project delivery
Status: Where do we stand with developing & implementing BIM & Co.
Outlook: How does our vision for a digital infrastructure project delivery looks like and what do we need to do to achieve it

Bio

Since 2018: Head of Processes & Digitalization for Infrastructure Projects (DB Netz AG - Germany’s rail network provider)

2016 to 2018: Leader of infrastructure financing negotiation team (DB Netz AG)

2013 to 2016: Head of corporate infrastructure strategy for stations and infrastructure Construction (DB AG)

2008 to 2012: Head of Corporate Development (Berlin Airports)

2001 to 2008: Strategy Consultant & Engagement Manager (McKinsey & Comp.)

Studied economics and business administration, graduated in Münster & Hamburg, lives in Berlin

Thierry Fort

Rolling Stock Division - Director of Engineering

Title

Maintenance 4.0: New rolling stock, new technologies, new needs!

Sub headings

Telediagnostic & predictive maintenance
Lessons learnt in SNCF
Use case: Fleet management challenges

Bio

He joined SNCF Rolling Stock division (SNCF Voyageurs) in January 2016 as Rolling Stock Engineering Director. He has 34 years design & engineering experience in Railway Domain (Freight & passengers traffic, Urban, Conventional and High Speed lines). He has a wide expertise in Rolling Stock, Railway Infrastructure and signalling & telecoms systems. He has been involved all along his career in numerous projects in France but also in many countries worldwide but more specifically in UK, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Algeria, USA, Brazil, Australia and Asia (China, Singapore, and India). He is managing currently a team of 1900 engineers located on 17 sites in France. Focused on all rolling stocks operated by SNCF group, he is in charge of new rolling stocks procurement, engineering activities for renewal or upgrade of existing rolling stocks, maintenance engineering including components or sub-systems repair design, testing and commissioning (tests on benches or trial on sites), R&D and normalization / standardization (European and International) for Rolling Stock and on-board signalling.

Erik Pinter

Teamleader Track Analysis

Title

From BigData to Smart Tools for decision making

Sub headings

Building a BigData platform to analyze, understand and model track condition and degradation
Building Smart Tools to enable intelligent maintenance decisions
Current insights and challenges

Bio

After his MSc in Civil Engineering and Water Resource Management Erik joined the ÖBB in the geotechnics & natural hazard management department.

There he started to discover the beauty of data for decision making and engaged in further education as a data scientist.

Since 2019 he has been team leader “Track Analysis”, where his team is mainly working on:

Mapping and description of the behavior of track-related components (tracks, switches, ballast, substructure, drainage, etc.)
Creation of network-wide forecast models for the behavior of track components
Development of smart & transparent decision-making tools for planning track maintenance and reinvestment measures

Marco Pagani

Head of Asset Management

Title

Why innovation in the railway sector needs to be more than just digitalization

Sub headings

Regarding railway assets, innovation and digitalization are seldom synonyms
Due to overregulation and lack of scale, digitalization done wrong can and will cause more harm than benefit
Appropriately applied digitalization of railway assets can however further enable rail traffic to become more cost efficient and even greener

Bio

After completing a degree in Electrical Engineering specializing in Mechatronics Marco Pagani gained experience in various positions in the Health Care and Railway sector in Switzerland. International work and training opportunities complement his track record.

Joining BLS Cargo as part of the technical department he led major projects, such as the procurement of multisystem locomotives. As part of a pool of experts Marco Pagani is involved in constantly developing technical rules in regard of ERTMS with the Swiss office of transport. Accepting a major role in the merging process of Crossrail Benelux and BLS Cargo Marco’s focus shifted temporarily to Antwerp, where he lived during this period.

Back home as head of Asset Management, he is now part of BLS Cargo’s management team and with his team responsible for the loco management and maintenance organization of the entire BLS Cargo Group.

Marco is 33 years old and lives with his partner in Spiez – right in the heart of trans-alpine freight traffic.

Marco Caposciutti

Technical Director

Title

Experience of Trenitalia using DMMS and WPMS

Sub headings

Digitalization is necessary for optimizing maintenance operations and costs
Experiences of DMMS (Dynamic Maintenance Management System)
Experiences of WPMS (Wheel Profile Measurement System

Bio

Marco Caposciutti is the Technical Director of Trenitalia since 2012; Headquartered in Florence, he is overseeing 3000 employees including the functions Maintenance (with direct control of 9 plants) Engineering, Management of Safety, Project Management for purchasing new rolling stock; he reports to the CEO of Trenitalia.

Prior to this position, he has held executive positions in Trenitalia, as responsible for the Frecciarossa high speed train services and as responsible of Maintenance in Freight Division. He started his career in Trenitalia in 1993 as engineer employed in the Technical Department; before this, he had an experience in an iron and steel factory as engineer dedicated to maintenance.

He holds a B.S. degree in electric engineer from Pisa University/Italy in 1990.

Mr Caposciutti is involved in international organization regarding railway; he’s the chairman of the Rolling Stock Sector of UIC since 2015.

Markus Schumann

Director Sales, Digital Products & Services

Title

IoT – Internet of Trains

Sub headings

How to generate information and recommendation from sub-system data?
How to organize the Internet of Trains across various stakeholders?

Bio

Markus Schumann is responsible for the sales and application engineering of Digital Products & Services at Knorr-Bremse Rail Vehicle Systems.

He has studied mechanical engineering in Munich, and joined Knorr-Bremse in 1997. After holding different responsibilities in global field service and training for Brakes and Doors at Knorr-Bremse and for gas engines at MTU Friedrichshafen, Markus became part of the digitalization journey of Knorr-Bremse since 2014. He is convinced that data driven solutions will improve railways, especially if they are strongly linked to real services and integrated in operational procedures. Customer support and digitized and automized services and tools have always been his focus. Finally in 2020, Knorr-Bremse founded a Digital Business Unit to bundle the activities around CBM, driver advisory systems and environmental observation, where Markus heads the sales and the application engineering.

Florian Auer

Director of Technology

Title

End-to-End Solutions for Railway Infrastructure

Sub headings

Development of customer needs in regards of capacity and process-safety
Digital Railway Solutions Alliance making complex products simple
Holistic approach in executing End-to-End solutions

Bio

Florian Auer specialised in traffic engineering at Graz University of Technology, centring his thesis on "A computational model to estimate the permanent way service life taking into consideration the intervention threshold”. Given his expertise, he was appointed as head of ÖBB’s Infrastructure Strategy project in 2002, succeeding Peter Veit.

In 2010, he completed his doctoral thesis on "Wear reduction of tracks in sharp curves”, supervised by Klaus Rießberger.

Before joining Plasser & Theurer, Florian Auer held various positions at ÖBB including Head of Life Cycle Management (LCM) at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG; Permanent Way Maintenance Engineering and Permanent Way Design Engineering. Since 2018, he has been Director of Technology and Innovation at Plasser & Theurer.

Florian Auer participates in the following international group:

Convenor in the Working Group 21 des CEN/TC 256/SC 1

Waqaas Rehman

Business Development Lead

Title

Transforming the Railway Industry with AI

Sub headings

Plan more traffic without building more tracks and dynamically adjust to disruptions as they happen
Applying Deep Reinforcement Learning AI to capture and solve the complexity of the network and rail operating environment
An AI-based Capacity & Traffic management system blueprint to automate planning, scheduling and dispatching

Bio

Waqaas Rehman is Business Development Lead at InstaDeep, helping railway companies get to grips with the latest AI breakthroughs and deploy them to improve efficiency and ROI. He firmly believes that Artificial Intelligence offers a transformational opportunity for the railway industry and will be key to building the more sustainable transportation options which are vital to the industry's future. Waqaas holds a PhD in physics from the University of Oxford; and as a passionate technologist, previously worked for Deutsche Bahn's venture capital arm, strategically investing in the most promising early-stage start-ups set to disrupt the rail industry. It is through this role that he discovered InstaDeep as the key partner in bringing AI to rail.

Rashmi Gupta

Head – Railways Strategic Initiative

Title

Digital Innovations empowering railway planners and passengers

Sub headings

Maximising line capacity for train services by applying efficient computational models
Condition Monitoring for Critical infrastructure assets by applying machine vision
Empowering Passengers for frictionless travel by people and device sensing
Bringing together Rail Ecosystem players through data market place

Bio

With a rich experience of over 25 years in IT across the Public Sector and Transportation Industry, Rashmi Gupta is a thought leader. Currently entrusted with spearheading strategic railway initiatives at Tata Consultancy Services, she modestly drives innovative solutions in Asset Management, Operations Planning, and Customer Experience areas by harnessing power of enormous data getting generated by industrial, IT, other systems, devices and people in the ecosystem, applying AI and Operations Research models to augment decision making capabilities of planners. Guided by a sincere commitment and extensive experience, she quietly propels digital adaptation to reshape the landscape of travel and transportation customers with humility and dedication.

Plasser & Theurer - has influenced the progress in the construction and maintenance of railway tracks more substantially than any other company. As a full-range supplier operating worldwide, the Austrian family business supplies track maintenance machines of almost all kinds and sizes and provides high-quality services over the entire life cycle of the machines. Our success story began with the production of tamping machines that stood out from all other products on the market due to their technical superiority. To this day, Plasser & Theurer tamping machines are the standard in track maintenance. Over decades, new machine models have been added to the machine programme. Today, the machines we offer cover almost all works to be performed when maintaining, laying and renewing railway tracks. In addition to machines for all track gauges in all parts of the world, we offer machines in all output categories meeting our customers’ needs. From a classic machine manufacturer to a modern full-range supplier.

Today, Plasser & Theurer is more than just a machine manufacturer. As a full-range supplier collaborating with 19 partner companies around the world, Plasser & Theurer offers comprehensive after-sales services, covering training, spare parts supply and technical service. The farreaching innovations in mechanised track maintenance not only involve new machine technologies, but also set new standards for the cost-efficient operation of machines. Developed by Plasser & Theurer, the PlasserSmartMaintenance initiative provides digital solutions that ensure greater transparency, connectivity and efficiency for both the maintenance of individual machines and entire machine fleets.

Sustainable quality increases cost-efficiency The contributions we make towards the cost-efficiency and sustainability of the railway system define our success. We set store by quality, innovative technologies and solutions providing the customers with real economic benefits.

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Meet the Speakers

Michael Nahler

Holger Albert

Roland Moser

Fabio Senesi

Daniel Forsmann

Thierry Fort

Erik Pinter

Marco Pagani

Michael Trumpfheller

Marco Caposciutti

Patrik Lengacher

Andreas Haller

Markus Schumann

Philipp Herincs

Martin Koeberl

Daniel Dötzl

Amogh Shurpali

Florian Auer

Waqaas Rehman

Israel Baron

Daniel MacGregor

Jarek Rosinski

Jenny Hudson

Rashmi Gupta

Dr. Michael Küpper

David McGorman

Our Partners in 2023