On 26th September, the HIMA User Conference Rail for European customers took place at the HIMA Customer Solutions Center in Brühl for the first time. Safety experts from the rail industry came together to discuss the latest technologies, trends and challenges on the path of digitalization in the rail sector and to share best practices.
Customers and partner companies from all over Europe met in Germany to experience practical lectures, live demos and an exchange with experts. One of the main topics was EULYNX, the European initiative to develop and provide uniform industry standards for new modular interlocking technology.
"The top-class speakers and the numerous participants confirm that our safety solutions make an important contribution to the digitalization of railway technology across borders. We will continue to play a pioneering role in Europe and beyond as a manufacturer of future-oriented, safe railway technology and support our partners in developing sustainable solutions," says Jörg de la Motte, CEO at HIMA.
After the welcome by de la Motte, Philippe Citroën, Director General of UNIFE (European Rail Supply Industry Association), outlined the priorities of the European rail industry, stating: “Numerous EU funding programmes are available for rail under the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and can support the digitalization of the sector, especially through ERTMS deployment. This crucial support will need to be sustained in the future MFF in order to fulfil the infrastructure requirements and deadlines proposed in the ambitious revision of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).”
Michel Ruesen, Managing Director of the ERTMS Users Group, explained the introduction of the European Rail Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS), which forms the basis for the digitalization of railway technology, and explained: “ERTMS is the basis for the digitalization of the railways and the ERTMS Users group now works in the System Pillar of EU-Rail on the further standardization of the Command Control and Signalling systems. It is promising to see how HIMA develops safety related solutions which can be used in the future target architecture for the digital railway in Europe and en-couraging to see that the EULYNX specifications contribute to this.“
This was followed by user contributions from well-known railway companies, who reported on their practical experiences with digital rail solutions based on the HIMA safety platform. The program was rounded off by live demos of the latest HIMA safety solutions based on the new version of the engineering tool SILworX. This included a SIL 4 interlocking simulator, SILworX integration with API, integration of a Frauscher SafeEthernet protocol, use of RaSTA protocol using the example of Object Controller as well as security solutions in the HIMA Security Lab supported by genua.
“The User Conference debut at the Customer Solutions Center was a great success and it is already clear that this format will be anchored as a regular program item in our event calen-dar,” says Sergej Arent, Director Applications at HIMA.
