2023! What a year to, what a year for…

What a year this can be! Rail has never been moving at higher speeds (in more ways than one) with trains, digitalization, sustainability, and the passenger experience all making huge strides to match changing trends and populations. To reach our goals we need the best people, creative teams and innovations that make rail travel even more sustainable, comfortable, and cost-effective. A challenge? For sure. But one I feel we can enjoy in delivering! So here is my list of why it is going to be ‘what a year for, and what a year to’ in rail!?

What a year to be involved in rail. Take your pick of some mind-blowing rail engineering projects that will provide strong alternatives to flying and driving by car in the future. There is of course our 2000km of high-speed rail in #Egypt, while other mega-projects are also moving at pace. Norway is setting a blueprint for digital rail with rail traffic controlled via one single data center for the whole country. And the new Sydney Metro will almost double capacity by 2030 with 113km of new lines with the latest in digital technology. Get involved to make the difference with these or the many fantastic projects coming soon around the world.?

What a year for new trains and approaches. Brand new trains will roll out around the world transforming and advancing the way we travel. Our first trains for Egypt will be produced and our Hydrogen and Battery Mireo trains will get closer to service. Our Vectron platform will continue to offer flexibility and economic predictability for more customers in more countries. Meanwhile the new train concept for Deutsche Bahn will pave the way for the future of high-speed rail.

For freight we need to make it more appealing for logistics companies to switch to rail. I have mentioned how Automated Train Operation can increase capacity by 30% but in addition we are improving across the board. Innovations such as our Brake Monitoring System bring us closer to a digitalized freight railway with automated brakes to further increase efficiency and availability for operators.?

What a year to raise passenger awareness. Can we better communicate the importance of rail travel to passengers? Last September the first German Rail Day had 300 events and 50,000 people taking part. It coincided with EuropeanMobilityWeek which was active in 3,000 towns and cities. Initiatives like no car days, free bike repair, bus, rail and #MaaS promotions reached a huge audience. We should not wait until September this year to promote the benefits of sustainable travel again. Let us start today and do this globally and locally!?

What a year to cross borders. Our Velaro MS will gain accreditation for cross-border travel. Rail Baltica I RB Rail AS is on track to integrate Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland with ERTMS into the European rail network. More Nightjets and long-distance routes are becoming available. Also another mega-project, the Fehmarn Link will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel and by the end of the decade link Hamburg to Copenhagen. We need to push on with ETCS and make the train a real alternative to other modes of transport in international travel.?

What a year to be a passenger. More convenient ticketing and booking options will become available providing a better quality and choice of travel. Together with Renfe in Spain we pioneered the Dōcō app at the end of 2022 which enables you to book your complete journey (e.g. bus, metro, train, scooter, e-bike and more) through one app.

We will see more from our software solutions as we seek to deliver seamless journeys and I would love to see a one-app approach available for more passengers around the world.?

What a year to save and protect the planet. The area that requires the most attention and urgency. Change is coming and even though material, resources and energy used in production is a tiny fraction of the total costs per passenger kilometer (considering 30+ years of train service), operators are rightfully asking how much recycled material is in a new train. #Sustainability is becoming more evident as an evaluation criterion in tenders and the urgency of climate targets is seeing an acceleration in sustainable technology.?

To unlock all of this potential and truly make this a special, sustainable year, we need to move up the gears in digitalization. There is further background on this in my 9 Reasons Why We Need to Digitalize Rail article. At Siemens Mobility we have the people and the technology, we have the open platform with #SiemensXcelerator and we have the cyber security expertise to make this happen!

So what are we waiting for? Let us get this year started! ?