Overview
From November 19th - 20th 2025, the 5th International Railway Symposium Aachen has taken place at the Eurogress in Aachen.
The challenges of climate change and the desired mobility transition are having a particular impact on rail transport - from urban to international transport. Fortunately, demand for both passenger and freight transport is increasing in many countries. A number of rail networks are already reaching the limits of their capacity in some sections, often in the major junction areas. At the same time, there are increasing infrastructure restrictions due to outdated infrastructure and necessary construction measures. If there are also restrictions on rolling stock, it is not surprising that delays in operation are on the agenda.
Many efforts are currently being made to make rail transport more attractive and resilient. Digitalization and artificial intelligence, which will be increasingly used in rail transport over the next few years, will play a major role in this.
The 5th International Railway Symposium Aachen (IRSA25) in Aachen's Eurogress was the ideal forum for an intensive, international exchange between experts on current issues, challenges and solutions in the field of rail transportation. Our event covered the entire technical area of the rail system, from infrastructure and operations to vehicle technology. With the symposium, the Research Center Railways of RWTH Aachen University would like to initiate a joint discussion with the specialist sector from industry, science and authorities on current topics from research and practice. We are therefore issuing a call for papers to representatives from industry, associations, authorities and science to submit topics for our symposium. The event was conducted in German and English.
You can find further information in our event flyer.
The presentations and conference proceedings will be available for download from early/mid-January! Participants will receive an email with the access details.
You can find the detailed program here.
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. D. Abel, RWTH Aachen University
- Dr. Peter Berger, Knorr-Bremse SfS GmbH, München
- Dr.-Ing. Ansgar Brockmeyer, Stadler Rail, Schweiz
- Dr. sc. ETH G. Caimi, SBB, Schweiz
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Cichon, KIT, Karlsruhe
- Dr.-Ing. B. Dickenbrok, DB Netz AG, Frankfurt
- Prof. Dr. ir. R. W. De Doncker, RWTH Aachen University
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. M. Enning, FH Aachen
- Dr. C. Gralla, Scheidt & Bachmann, Mönchengladbach
- Prof. I. Hansen, TU Delft, Niederlande
- Dr.-Ing. Michael Holzapfel, Schaeffler Technologies, Herzogenaurach
- Prof. D.Eng J. Koseki, Universität Tokio, Japan
- Dr. rer. nat. Alexander Kuckelberg, quattron, Aachen
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. T. Kuhnimhof, RWTH Aachen University
- Dr.-Ing. P. Laumen, Scheidt & Bachmann, Mönchengladbach
- Dr.-Ing. L. Löwenstein, Siemens Mobility, Erlangen
- Dipl.-Ing. H. Mannsbarth, Alstom, Siegen
- Dr.-Ing. C. Meirich, DLR, Braunschweig
- Dr.-Ing. L. Müller, DB Systemtechnik, Minden
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. N. Nießen, RWTH Aachen University
- Dr.-Ing. M. Orth, DZSF, Dresden
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. R. Pfaff, FH Aachen
- Prof. Joao Pombo, PhD., University of Huddersfield, UK
- Prof. Dr.rer.nat. D. U. Sauer, RWTH Aachen University
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roman Schaal, TH Nürnberg
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. C. Schindler, RWTH Aachen University
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. B. Schmidt, FH Aachen
- PD Dr.-Ing. habil. Lars Schnieder, ESE, Braunschweig
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christina Singer, TH Nürnberg
- Prof. S. Stichel, KTH Stockholm, Schweden
- Prof. Dr. N. Tomii, Chiba Inst. of Techn., Japan
- Prof. E. G. Vadillo, EHU Bilbao, Spanien
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. H. Vallery; RWTH Aachen University
- Dr.-Ing. W. Weigand, ehem. DB Netz AG
- Prof. Dr.rer.nat N. Weik, TU München
- Dr. Rene Zweigel, Rurtalbahn, Düren
All information (ticket prices, submission deadlines and all details on the short and long versions) can be found in our detailed Call for Papers flyer.
If you have submitted a contribution, you will find the ConfTool login here.
The short version should not exceed 5 pages. The long version should be 8-16 pages long. Please adhere to our format templates: Use our templates for Word or LaTeX to submit your full paper.
The Program Committee of the International Railway Symposium Aachen (IRSA) 2025 has honored four scientific contributions with the Best Paper Award.
The awarded papers make outstanding contributions to the advancement of railway research and practice:
· Approximation of service systems for determining the capacity of railway infrastructure in stations
– Tamme Emunds and Nils Nießen
· Network-wide capacity effects of ETCS in a timetable-based capacity assessment model
– Cédric Kekes, Franziska Theurich and Karl Nachtigall
· Quantifying the interactions between maintenance and renewal measures on the condition of the rail network
– Björn Dickenbrok, Felix Lampe, Felix Doose and Christian Schaper
· Development of a condition monitoring system for loose wheel axles
– Mirco Janßen, Sven Jenne, Martin Möhring, Pascal Gil, Henning Seeger and Christian Schindler
Short versions of these papers are also published in the current May 2026 issue of Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau.
Your contact person
Olga Freund
Partner
Directions to the 5th International Railway Symposium Aachen
Arrival by public transport.
You can reach the Eurogress Aachen from the main station with the lines 3A and 13A direction Ponttor. At the 5th stop (Eurogress) you have reached your destination.