RAIL^UP The podcast with innovators and leaders of the ecosystem of rail.

About Constantine IssakidisConstantine is the founder of Athena Industrial. Bringing an outside perspective to one of rail’s oldest safety challenges, he is driving a vision of safer railways through smarter sensors, less physical infrastructure and – most importantly – actionable data.About Athena IndustrialAthena Industrial is a Calgary-based company developing  safety technology and equipment for the  industry.  Athena has taken its Autonomous Rail Condition Detection (ARCD) technology from R&D to more than 1,350 units deployed in real-world railway operations. Athena originally came from outside the traditional rail industry. Its journey into rail began with a call from researchers in Pueblo, Colorado, who saw the potential of the company’s expertise in electromagnetics.https://www.athenaindustrialservices.comKey TakeawaysNot every railway needs more infrastructure: remote and low-density networks need smarter solutions where legacy systems are too complex or expensive to deploy.Innovation can start with one unexpected call: Athena’s journey into rail began when researchers in Pueblo recognized the potential of its electromagnetic expertise.ARCD keeps infrastructure small and autonomous: a 20 × 40 cm, solar-powered unit can monitor around 1.65 km of track for broken rails and train presence.Connectivity does not require continuous coverage: even with only one LTE/GSM connection across 300 km, ARCD can deliver data within five minutes.Built for extreme environments: the system is designed for –65°C to +85°C.From R&D to real-world scale: more than 1,350 ARCD units are already deployed, with the majority operating on Class I railroads.Validation happens under extreme conditions: MXV tested ARCD for 24 months, with 120–130 train movements per day and axle loads of around 36 tonnes.Railway safety requires measurable reliability: MXV verified a 100% rail break detection result and a false-positive potential of just 0.00136% for broken-rail and train-presence detection.The future is about actionable data: railways may need less physical infrastructure but much more intelligence – because the real value is not more data, but data that enables better decisions.Sebastian Sperker [email protected]://www.railup.club/

About Giorgio TravainiGiorgio is Executive Director of the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, the European partnership driving rail research and innovation. He has played a key role in leading Europe’s rail research and innovation programmes, being responsible for the €1.2 billion Europe’s Rail R&I Programme since 2021 and supervising the €920 million Shift2Rail R&I Programme since 2015. Before joining Europe’s Rail, he was Senior Corporate Advisor at UNIFE, advising on strategic topics and contributing to the preparation of Shift2Rail. Since 2007, he has supervised several R&I projects, teams and technical committees and served as Secretary of ERRAC. He holds an Engineering Degree from the Polytechnic University of Turin and a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from London South Bank University. About Europe’s RailEurope’s Rail Joint Undertaking is a European public-private partnership established in 2021 under the Horizon Europe programme, succeeding Shift2Rail JU. It brings together the European Commission and the rail sector to drive research, innovation, and digitalisation, focusing on removing interoperability barriers and accelerating the deployment of innovations to create a high-capacity, sustainable, and integrated European railway network.https://rail-research.europa.eu/Key Take Aways:Europe’s Rail is a €1.2 billion public–private partnership dedicated to accelerating rail research and innovation and supporting the transformation of the European railway system. Together with its predecessor, the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking (S2R), it has reshaped the European rail R&I landscape, contributing to the development of key technologies and greater system harmonisation. The Shift2Rail programme delivered over 700 prototype tests and around 70 innovative solutions, showing that innovation is not the main bottleneck.  The main challenge is now deployment: bridging the gap between successful demonstrations and large-scale uptake across Europe's fragmented rail network.  Rail remains central to Europe's sustainability and competitiveness priorities, accounting for only 0.4% of transport greenhouse gas emissions while enabling decarbonisation, resilience, digitalisation and cybersecurity Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) is progressing through pioneer trains today, with wider commercial deployment expected from the 2030s.  Rail automation is already becoming a reality, with Grade 4 autonomous operation demonstrated in operational conditions on an open railway line in Prague, Czech Republic.  FRMCS will replace GSM-R, providing the digital backbone needed for future automation and high-capacity rail operations.  Faster and more harmonised authorisation and standardisation processes are essential to reduce costs and accelerate innovation deployment across Europe.  The proposed next programme would more than double R&I funding to around €3 billion, complemented by €15 billion for pre-deployment and market rollout.  The vision for 2050 is a highly automated, more integrated European railway system, delivering higher capacity, more services and global technology leadership. Sebastian Sperker [email protected]

About Sam BemmentDr Sam Bemment is Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Universal Signalling. With more than 18 years of experience in engineering, operations, consulting, and railway innovation, Sam brings a deep understanding of both the technical and commercial challenges of rail.He holds a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD in Railway Systems Engineering, is a Chartered Engineer, and has worked across the client-supplier interface with operators, infrastructure owners, universities, SMEs, and major rail organisations. At Universal Signalling, he focuses on turning client pain points into faster, more affordable solutions.About Universal SignallingUniversal Signalling is a UK-based railtech company founded in 2022 with the goal of making digital railway signalling products faster to fit, simpler, and more affordable. Its core philosophy is “Signalling in Days, Not Decades”, with the stated goal of offering clients benefits now, not in a decade’s time.The company develops low-cost, rapid-deployment technologies, initially for regional, rural, and lower-density railways. Its U-Cross product uses trackside beacons and onboard reader units to provide more accurate train location information, helping improve safety and operational efficiency at user-worked crossings and on lines where traditional signalling upgrades are difficult to justify.https://www.universalsignalling.com/Key TakeawaysETCS is a the European signalling interoperability standard. It was originally specified in the mid 1990s, and due to complexity/cost is often difficult to justify on lower-density regional and secondary lines.Regional railways are essential for the wider network, often providing the first and last mile for freight customers and basic mobility for rural passengers.Many rural lines operate under tight budgets, and large signalling upgrade programmes can take longer than a typical 4–5 year political or funding cycle.In signalling projects, the biggest cost is usually not the equipment. Sam explains that in UK signalling projects, around 83% of project cost can be labour and project delivery, while only around 17% is equipment.A single Eurobalise may cost around £2,000–3,000 as hardware, but once design, installation, testing, and verification labour are included, the installed cost can rise to around £25,000.Universal Signalling’s beacons cost around £20–30 per unit including installation, and test labour, roughly 1000 times cheaper than a Eurobalise.Instead of installing one expensive balise every kilometre, Universal Signalling can deploy many low-cost beacons, for example every 20 metres. This gives radically better train positioning and enables fault tolerance.The company’s U-Cross trial in Wales covered around 18 kilometres, or 11 miles, of track and was installed in just 2.5 overnight shifts, without any prior design work. This will only get faster as the team get more experience.U-Cross helps at user-worked crossings, where crossing users may currently have to wait up to 40–45 minutes because signallers do not know exactly where the train is within long rural block sections.Universal Signalling’s long-term vision is “Signalling in Days, Not Decades”, reducing deployment times from years to days or weeks and making digital signalling viable for regional railways in the UK, Europe, and potentially a large share of the global rail network.Sebastian Sperker [email protected]

About Oliver von Sperber Oliver is an entrepreneur, technology expert, and rail innovator who brings experience from investment banking and sensor technology to the railway sector. As the founder of AXO, he focuses on making rail infrastructure more resilient through smart, data-driven predictive maintenance.With a background in forestry, he takes a long-term view of infrastructure—seeing railways as complex systems and vital public goods that require sustainable, generational thinking.About AXO AXO enhances the stability of rail networks by providing specialized sensor systems for rail switches. As critical infrastructure nodes, switches are essential for capacity and safe operations, yet remain maintenance-intensive and prone to failure.With around 20% of infrastructure-related train delays caused by switch failures, AXO focuses on practical solutions to prevent disruptions. By detecting anomalies early, its technology enables infrastructure managers to take preventive action before operations are affected. AXO’s mission is to strengthen the long-term reliability and resilience of railways as a vital public good.https://axotrack.de/My Key Takeaways A single failed railway switch can disrupt an entire journey — that’s why people avoid tight connections.Railways and forests have more in common than you think: both are complex systems managed over decades.There are ~60,000 switches in Germany alone — each one a potential failure point.Just one local defect can trigger system-wide delays, showing how fragile rail networks are.In rail, every minute of delay costs ~€100 — small issues quickly become expensive.AXO sensors measure extreme forces up to 500 G, far beyond lab expectations.Early field tests completely destroyed the hardware, revealing real-world conditions.Instead of “AI-first,” AXO focused on understanding physics and data first.The mission is to digitize the intuition of experienced technicians before it disappears.The opportunity is global: high-speed, heavy haul, and metro systems all face the same challenge.Sebastian [email protected]://www.railup.club/

About Vicky AlmanVicky, CEO of NIART Systems, a distinguished engineer who holds two advanced degrees, bringing a background from the highly regulated aerospace sector to the rail industry. At NIART, she leads the application of advanced AI and sensor technology to create predictive rail infrastructure. As a recognized industry leader, she specializes in the digital transformation of rail, focusing on how these innovations mitigate supply chain risk and eliminate the massive, hidden financial costs associated with incidents and infrastructure failures. She offers a crucial, data-driven perspective for global rail professionals.About NIART Systems The company offers a unique radar-powered railway obstacle detection solution. Uncovering hidden obstacles and providing real-time insights in any condition, NIART aims to transform the rail industry by offering a solution that prevents accidents, reduces delays, and accelerates the shift towards safer, smarter and more reliable railways.https://niart-systems.com/About Lido Costa Lido was the Lead Technical Engineer for the AutoHaul® Driverless Trains system for Rio Tinto, Australia, responsible for system integration, hardware and software architecture approval, and safety assurance strategy.Over the past five years, he has served as an Expert Consultant to DB Cargo (German Railways) on the ATO/RTO Betuwe Project — Europe’s first freight ATO and Remote Train Operation initiative — and is also an Expert Consultant with NIART Perception Systems.With over 35 years’ experience in railway signalling, communications, and control systems, Lido has held senior roles on major projects across Europe (including the Madrid–Seville High Speed Line), Asia, Africa, and Australia.He is a Chartered Professional Engineer (Australia), a Fellow of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (FIRSE, UK), and winner of the 2021 Australasian Rail Industry Awards – Signalling and Systems Engineering Award.My Key Takeaways Perception is the “eyes and ears” of autonomous trains — without it, autonomy is blind.Rail automation is reaching its limits with rule-based systems; higher capacity and safety demands push the next step.Sensor fusion (radar + cameras) is essential — no single sensor is reliable enough on its own.NIART (train spelled backwards) brings aerospace-grade, mission-critical engineering into rail.AutoHaul is called the “largest robot in the world.”The trains are massive: 2.5 km long, up to ~40,000 tons, fully automated in mainline operation.Biggest business driver: avoiding driver-change stops — restarting a 40,000-ton train costs serious time and fuel.Unexpected benefit: highly consistent driving reduces wear variability and improves maintenance planning.Fun fact: Western Australia reportedly has more camels than Saudi Arabia — and trains regularly encounter them.Next evolution: adding onboard perception systems to further reduce residual risks and increase flexibility and safety.Sebastian [email protected]://www.railup.club/