IRSA establishes itself as an important rail transport conference

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The 2nd International Rail Transport Symposium (IRSA) took place in Aachen from 26 to 28 November. After a relaxed get-together on the evening of the 26th in the Super-C of the RWTH Aachen University, Professor Nils Nießen, one of the three organizers of the Research Center Railways (RCR) of the RWTH Aachen University, welcomed more than 200 participants from more than 15 countries to the Brussels Hall of the Aachen Eurogress on the morning of the 27th.

The new Rector of the RWTH, Prof. Ulrich Rüdiger, and the State Secretary in the NRW Ministry of Transport, Dr. Hendrik Schulte (picture), also addressed the conference participants. Rüdiger emphasized the extraordinary position of Aachen as a scientific location with RWTH as the largest technical university in Germany, whose founding rector was a railway engineer. Schulte made it obligatory for those present to make their contribution to strengthening rail transport in Germany, so that the change in traffic patterns would be successful for the benefit of the climate.

Guest speaker Heinz Laumen from the main sponsor Scheidt & Bachmann took the audience into the difficult terrain of railway operational safety.

The second guest speaker, Professor Adolf Müller-Hellmann, took up the cudgels for the rapid implementation of electromobility in Germany, whereby he, as former VDV managing director, primarily looked at public transport. The plenary session was concluded by the third guest speaker, Koen Cuypers from the Antwerp seaport, who lamented the shortcomings of rail as a means of transport in comparison to ship and road and pointed out that the increasingly larger and more numerous shiploads from overseas can only be transported to domestic Europe with the help of rail.

On the afternoon of the 27th and the following day, 48 technical lectures were held in several blocks, three of which were held in parallel.

The topics ranged from increasing capacity in railway operations to assisted and driverless driving to increasing availability and reliability through predictive maintenance. The classic topics such as vehicle and chassis technology and wheel/rail interaction were not neglected either. Digitalisation and the immense possibilities it offers for improving the railway system were the most important issues.

The banquet took place in the old tram depot of the city of Aachen. Extensive breaks between the lecture blocks and interesting exhibits of the exhibitors provided space for intensive technical discussions between the conference participants.

The organizing professors De Doncker, Nießen and Schindler thank all lecturers, participants, sponsors and helpers for the very successful conference and are already looking forward to the third IRSA in November 2021, at which the topic SPNV will also receive a prominent place in the program.