From September 2 to 4, 2025, the 9th Railway Forum Berlin took place at the Estrel Congress Center. With 1,700 participants on site, 1,000 virtual guests, over 180 exhibitors, and 120 speakers, the organizers described the conference as the most successful railway conference in Europe to date. The PJM Group presented ideas on digitalization and its other areas of expertise at the event.
The forum offered a varied program of keynotes, workshops, panels, a gala evening, and factory tours. The content focused on digitalization, AI applications, infrastructure monitoring, sustainability, and new technologies in railway operations.
Digital train functions for rail freight transport
Digitalization was also the key topic addressed by Günter Petschnig, Managing Director of PJ Monitoring, in a “deep dive” presentation at the event. His presentation, “Digital train functions: Greater safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in rail freight transport,” sparked a lively dialogue among the participants. It became clear that the industry is suffering from cost pressure, a shortage of skilled workers, and high maintenance costs due to unplanned repairs, among other things. PJ Monitoring has been driving digitalization and automation forward with WaggonTracker for almost two decades. The aim is to increase reliability and predictability, shorten delivery times, make train preparation more efficient, thereby achieving significant cost advantages and increasing safety.
The success of this approach is demonstrated by the intelligent freight train, which was implemented in collaboration with the Italian company Logistix in its intermodal fleet and is now successfully in operation. It features real-time analysis of brakes and kingpins, load weight monitoring, and IDDS derailment diagnosis. The WaggonTracker is compatible with screw couplings and DAC.
Support with approval and integration
PJ Motion, which has extensive expertise in authorisation and requirements management and is particularly involved in the integration of the automated brake test – a key element of the WaggonTracker – was also on site. The specialists at PJ Motion provide support for vehicle integration (including change management), operational integration (e.g., adaptation of the railway undertaking's safety management systems), and integration into the maintenance system (support for ECM 1–4 functions). PJ Motion is thus laying the foundations for the safe and smooth introduction of the new technology.
Testing expertise at the highest level
The third partner to present itself at the Railway Forum was PJ Messtechnik – an accredited testing center in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025 for vehicle dynamics, fatigue strength, brakes, acoustics, aerodynamics, and pantograph (the only testing laboratory in Austria in this field). The company is also a proven specialist in engineering for rail transport. PJ Messtechnik thus rounds off the group's range of services and ensures the necessary testing reliability for new systems and vehicles.
Participation not only provided technical insights, but also direct access to decision-makers and a wide range of networking opportunities.
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