Over the past two weeks, PROSE brought intelligent rail head lubrication into two key industry forums in Dresden and Vienna. We used these events to test ideas, challenge assumptions and engage with the people who deal with these challenges every day.
In Dresden, at the 21st International Railway Vehicle Conference, the focus was on intelligent rail head conditioning for trams. The combination of measurement technology, AI-supported data analysis and practical operational results sparked strong interest and many follow-up questions, both technical and operational.
In Vienna, at the 30th meeting of the Sound and Vibration Working Group (Rail Transport), the discussion shifted towards vehicle-based acoustic monitoring. The topic of acoustic data collection as the basis for tailored rail head conditioning and monitoring of rolling stock and infrastructure led to in-depth exchanges.
What stood out across both events:
There is a growing awareness that noise, wear and resource use cannot be optimised in isolation. For operators, maintainers and engineers, the key question is becoming:
How do we turn data into reliable, scalable decisions in daily operation?
These conversations build directly on the insights from our intelligent rail head lubrication research project and help translate them into practical, scalable solutions.
