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RNE and ERA Workshop on data interoperability at Innotrans

30 September 2022

     News     RNE and ERA Workshop on data interoperability at Innotrans

(picture above: Looking forward to even closer collaboration: Marina Aguado (ERA), Hinne Groot (Ministry of Transport, Netherlands), Christopher Carr (ERA), Michaela Strohschneider (DG MOVE), Ralf-Charley Schultze (UIRR), Harald Reisinger (RNE))

During this year’s InnoTrans fair in Berlin, RNE and ERA jointly hosted the second workshop on ‘Enhancing Data Interoperability in the Railway Sector’.

After the successful first workshop held on 26 October 2021, ERA and RNE followed up with a second workshop, which took place at the InnoTrans fair in Berlin on 21 September 2022 and was livestreamed to allow for widespread participation. Based on the discussions and participants’ feedback from the first workshop, the second one aimed at presenting a way forward. In his introductory remarks, Kristian Schmidt, Director for Land Transport of the European Commission set the scene and emphasised the importance of digitalisation and collaboration when it comes to data in the rail sector: ‘Let’s be ambitious and let’s share data’.

The following speakers presented both the needs of the customers and some initiatives to meet them:

  • Kristian Schmidt and Michaela Strohschneider from DG MOVE
  • Christopher Carr and Marina Aguado, European Union Agency for Railways (ERA)
  • Harald Reisinger, RNE
  • Ralf-Charley Schultze, International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport (UIRR)
  • Enno Wiebe, Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER)
  • Tibo Noel, International Union of Railways (UIC)
  • Cecilia Dagerholm, XRail
  • Thomas Heydenreich, RSRD2
  • Ctirad Klimánek, RailVIS
  • Aldo Puglisi, HUPAC

Looking at the way forward, Christopher Carr from the European Railway Agency and Harald Reisinger from RNE called for collaboration between ERA and RNE to provide a high level of data quality for the sector. They announced that possibilities for a cooperation between their organisations would be investigated. Moreover, RNE is in talks with UIC on joining forces to consolidate data from train operations. Michaela Strohschneider from DG MOVE welcomed these initiatives and stated that public data, such as infrastructure data, shall be accessible as easily as possible for the benefit of the sector.

There was wide agreement by the 30 participants on-site in Berlin and more than 130 participants online that data interoperability and cooperation will be crucial for a competitive railway sector.

More information on the workshop can be found here.