The Wayside Digitalisation Forum (WDF), hosted by Frauscher Sensor Technology, gathered industry leaders, infrastructure managers, and innovation experts to discuss how digitalisation, standardisation, and intelligent wayside control are shaping the future of the railway signalling industry.

The 2025 edition showcased significant advancements in predictive maintenance, EULYNX integration, digital twins, and resilient cybersecurity, redefining how railways can become more flexible, safe, and sustainable.

The following text provides short overviews of all the topics presented at the conference.

Driving Capacity and Cost Efficiency: Modernising Rail Operations and Signalling

Johan Pluy, a member of the board of ӦBB-Infrastruktur AG, opened the event and highlighted, in his keynote, the importance of collaboration between the industry and infrastructure managers to drive innovation while ensuring feasible solutions in both the investment and maintenance phases.

Austria’s Rail Industry – A Success Story of Innovation and Collaboration

Tanja Kienegger, Vice President of the Austrian Railway Association and CEO of Siemens Mobility Austria, presented Austria’s railway ecosystem.

The Austrian rail industry employs over 34,000 people, contributes €3.02 billion in GDP, and exports 68% of its production, one of the highest R&D ratios in Europe.
Kienegger underscored the synergy between research institutions, suppliers, and operators, advocating for harmonization, innovative procurement, and long-term stability to secure Europe’s leadership in sustainable rail technology.

Innovation, Safety, and Future Challenges – The IRSE Perspective

Bogdan Godziejewski, President of the IRSE, delivered a keynote on “Innovation, Safety, and Future Challenges”.

He discussed how digital transformation is progressing across ERTMS/ETCS and CBTC systems, supported by cloud-based interlockings and AI-driven maintenance.
Godziejewski noted that Europe continues to lead in safety performance. Yet, the next frontier lies in data-driven signalling, addressing standardization, resource efficiency, and the use of neural networks for predictive control.

Setting the Vision: From Legacy Challenges to Digital Railways

Michael Thiel and Mayank Tripathi from Frauscher Sensor Technology emphasized in their keynote that EULYNX is no longer a vision but a catalyst driving the global shift toward modular, open, and interoperable signalling architectures.
Their presentation, “Embracing the Future Today”, highlighted the move from closed vendor ecosystems to open platforms that enable scalability, sustainability, and supplier independence, marking a new era of collaboration across the railway industry

France’s Modernisation: SNCF Réseau and the FAdC Rollout

Alexander Kruse and Sayfeddine Eddous presented how SNCF Réseau is modernizing its network through the CE FAdC project, deploying advanced axle counters as the new national standard.

With over 80,000 track circuits still active, SNCF aims to transition toward axle counters to improve reliability, simplify maintenance, and enable ERTMS Level 2/3 hybrid operation.
The €700 million HPMV line project (Marseille–Nice) will include 1200 FAdC detection points, digital interlockings (ARGOS), and remote monitoring, setting a model for modularity and EULYNX-based interoperability

Infrabel: Pushing Digitalization Further

Hannes Denil from Infrabel demonstrated how the Belgian infrastructure manager is optimizing TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) through complete ETCS coverage and digital interlockings.

His presentation introduced JARVIS, a comprehensive maintenance acquisition platform combining VR, asset positioning, recognition, and condition monitoring, significantly reducing intervention times and costs while ensuring safety and availability.

Predictive Maintenance and Digital Twins – The ÖBB Model

Dominic Winkler, Lead Architect for Digital Twins at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG, presented an ambitious framework for predictive maintenance using digital twins and a 360° operational view.

He illustrated how ÖBB is mapping over 5,000 km of rail and 800,000 km of measurement data into a unified IoT-driven ecosystem, integrating real-time condition monitoring, AI analytics, and BIM-based asset management.

Winkler emphasized that signalling components — interlockings, axle counters, and level crossings — are among the top candidates for predictive maintenance, confirming that digital twins are not just for engineering but for real-time operational decision-making

Diagnostics in Practice: Real-Time Monitoring with FAdC Insights

Darren Dykstra from Network Rail shared real-world results from the R2 platform, which enhances diagnostic data acquisition and predictive maintenance for digital signalling.

The system integrates directly with the FAdC and uses machine learning algorithms to predict failures, halve average delay impacts, and optimize maintenance schedules.
A single deployment at Paddington saved £441,000 in delay costs within one year,  demonstrating how real-time analytics and cloud-based dashboards can transform maintenance culture.

Also, he showcased the monitoring platform “Frauscher Insights”, focusing on the power of data in monitoring and maintenance on the Network Rail.

Resilient Cybersecurity for Decentralized Signalling Systems

Dominik Eger from OHB Teledata GmbH tackled one of the sector’s most urgent issues: cybersecurity.

His presentation, “The OHB Approach,” outlined a defense-in-depth architecture for decentralized interlocking systems, compliant with IEC 62443 and EULYNX Security (Variant B).

OHB’s solution enables secure remote maintenance, TLS 1.3 communication (RaSTA in TCP or OPC-UA), and modular IT/OT integration, ensuring compliance with EU NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act while maintaining operational efficiency.

From Static Systems to Digital Architectures

Florian Einböck from Frauscher Sensor Technology detailed the company’s transition “from static to digital architectures,” led by Object Controllers and IP-based node architectures.

He showcased the FAdP Point Control System, a SIL 4-certified, scalable, modular platform for point control, detection, and monitoring.

This evolution enables software-based updates, predictive maintenance via OPC UA technology, and modular scalability, paving the way for resilient, decentralized, and data-centric signalling infrastructures.

The Finnish ERTMS Program: A Vision of Full Integration

Juha Lehtola from the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency presented Finland’s roadmap for the ERTMS implementation, which integrates EULYNX-compliant architecture, Hybrid Train Detection, MNO-based radio communication, ATO GoA2, and TMS system into one harmonized architecture.

The current project implements the EULYNX-compliant Point Object Controller, with the vision of achieving a fully EULYNX-compliant architecture in the future.

Finland is also pioneering an ETCS Level 2 Baseline 4 deployment across its entire network, ensuring supplier neutrality, cost efficiency, and readiness for ATO and FRMCS.
The program’s motto – “Taking the journey together”  encapsulates Europe’s collaborative drive toward a unified, digital railway area.

North American Perspectives: From PTC to ETCS

Jonathan Hu and Richard Plokhaar from WSP shared the current developments in the North American signalling world, spanning between conventional signalling systems, Positive Train Control (PTC), CBTC, and pilot ETCS initiatives.

While PTC has already reached 58,000 miles of deployment (with different vendor-specific variants such as ACSES, ETMS, ITCS or E-ATC), the future points to ETCS adoption in projects such as California High-Speed Rail, Toronto GOTransit, and Brightline West.

Case studies from Amtrak, New York MTA, and Vancouver SkyTrain illustrated how interoperability, automation (GoA4), and 5G-based CBTC systems are shaping the continent’s modernization path.

Transport Canada is also developing its own system called Enhanced Train Control (ETC), which shall be compatible with existing conventional signalling systems.

The Role of EU-Rail Service Function Diagnostics and Configuration

Dr. Karl-Albrecht Klinge presented a strategic view on EU-Rail’s Service Function Diagnostics (SFD) and Service Function Configuration (SFC), which form the cornerstone of European rail interoperability and digital automation.
He explained that the Shift2Rail legacy has evolved into EU-Rail’s system architecture, emphasizing standardized diagnostic interfaces and configuration management to ensure cross-border consistency in ETCS, ATO, and interlocking systems.

The SFD framework is designed to simplify maintenance data sharing between operators and suppliers, enabling real-time fault management, lifecycle traceability, and digital twin integration for next-generation operations.

Data Acquisition, Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance: From Sensors to Insights

Lily Hashemi from KONUX elaborated on the role of data acquisition and monitoring in predictive maintenance systems (for point machines, trackbed, and superstructure).

She showcased use cases where axle counters, vibration sensors, and signal interfaces contribute to diagnostic data lakes, providing the foundation for AI-based anomaly detection.

The presentation illustrated the transition from reactive to condition-based maintenance, where systems self-report degradation and dispatch predictive alerts to field engineers, significantly reducing downtime and improving safety margins.

Cybersecurity for Rail: A Holistic Approach

Max Schubert from INCYDE delivered an impactful session about cybersecurity in digital signalling, in light of the NIS2, CER and CRA regulations.

He outlined the cyber threat landscape confronting digital interlockings and field elements, stressing that security must evolve from compliance to resilience. The framework he proposed integrates IEC 62443, ISO 27001, and EULYNX Security Variant B, ensuring unified protection across signalling layers, from central RBC servers to edge object controllers.

His message was clear: as decentralization grows, cybersecurity must be embedded in design, not retrofitted.

EULYNX – Enabling the Digital Transformation for Railway Signalling

Mirko Blažić from EULYNX presented the technological backbone enabling digital transformation — focusing on open data models, scalable hardware, and EULYNX-compliant interfaces (SCI, SDI, SMI, and SSI).

He emphasized that digitalization is not about replacing existing assets but enhancing them through connectivity, allowing existing interlockings to act as nodes within a distributed, service-oriented signaling ecosystem. Frauscher’s roadmap integrates these principles through software-defined functions, real-time diagnostics, and a cloud-ready architecture that ensures both performance and maintainability.

He also shared useful information about the new VendorExpo on the EULYNX platform, and details about the activities of the EULYNX academy.

A Modern Platform to Support ETCS Rollout in Europe

Mirko Caspar (DB Netz AG) described Germany’s vision for scaling ETCS through a modern cloud-based digital interlocking and diagnostic platform.
The system enables centralized parameter management, automated testing, and fleet-wide updates, thereby reducing deployment costs and ensuring uniformity across suppliers.

He illustrated how the platform supports ETCS L2 Baseline 4 rollout, integrates with EULYNX APIs, and paves the way for ATO and hybrid train detection in cross-border operations .

A Path to Safe, Sustainable, and Smart Mobility – The Indian Experience

Shobhan Chaudhuri, former Indian Railways executive, presented an extensive overview of India’s railway digital transformation – the world’s fourth largest network, now 98% electrified and rapidly modernizing signalling systems.

Key initiatives include:

• KAVACH (IR-ATP) – India’s indigenous Automatic Train Protection system;
• Centralized Traffic Control and Electronic Interlockings replacing legacy relay systems;
• IoT-based diagnostics and AI-powered analytics for predictive maintenance;
• The transformation also integrates real-time train tracking, automated ticketing (PRS/UTS), and digital payment systems (UPI), showing how large-scale innovation can align safety, sustainability, and accessibility.

Digital Transformation Across Australia

Stewart Rendell of Sigtech Solutions examined the Australian approach to digital signalling, where ETCS, CBTC, and automatic train control are being deployed across multiple states under diverse regulatory frameworks.

Highlights included:

• Sydney Trains Digital Systems Project (ETCS L1/L2 deployment);
• Sydney Metro, Australia’s largest driverless metro network;
• Metro Tunnel Project in Victoria;
• Cross River Rail in Brisbane;
• Adelaide Metro;
• Transperth project with new ATC system;
• ARTC Inland Rail Project – 1,600 km of new freight track connecting regional supply chains.

Each project reinforces safety, capacity, and sustainability goals through digital technologies and harmonized operational standards.

ÖBB Betriebsführungszentrale Wien – The Brain of Austrian Rail Operations

The visit to ÖBB Operations Control Centre (BFZ Wien) offered a rare inside look at the command hub managing over 3,700 trains daily.

The centre operates through the ARAMIS management system and the EBO 2 unified interface, controlling 817 km of remotely managed lines.
Each function — from the Fahrdienstleiter (traffic controller) to the Notfallkoordinator (emergency coordinator) — contributes to real-time incident handling, automatic rescheduling, and passenger communication, representing human–machine collaboration at scale.

The system’s automation level and organizational structure position BFZ Wien as a model for integrated operations and digital resilience

Redefining the Future: Cost, Flexibility, and Sustainability

The Wayside Digitalisation Forum 2025 marked a pivotal moment in the digital transformation of global railways.

Across Europe and beyond, a clear message resonated: the railway of the future will be data-driven, modular, interoperable, and secure — built on open architectures and predictive intelligence.

From SNCF to ÖBB, from Infrabel to Finland, every success story demonstrates that digitalisation is not merely a technology shift but a collaborative movement toward smarter, greener, and safer mobility.

The forum was concluded by emphasizing how intelligent field elements, standardised interfaces, and data integration are redefining both cost structures and flexibility in signalling projects.

The roadmap toward a fully modular, EULYNX-compliant ecosystem is a central enabler of sustainable railway digitalisation.