Your daily round-up of Europe’s Rail highlights, straight from the floor of InnoTrans 2026 Today, InnoTrans got into...
EU-Rail at InnoTrans 2026 — Highlights of the Day 2 (23 September)
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Your daily round-up of Europe’s Rail highlights, straight from the floor of InnoTrans 2026
Last day at InnoTrans 2026! It has been an insightful day full of panel discussions on the Central Stage of the European Stand, covering a wide variety of key topics for today’s railway system while looking ahead to the future.
New technologies and the digitalisation of rail freight were also at the centre of today’s programme, with virtual demonstrations from EU-Rail flagship areas taking place at the European Stand, alongside two DAC demonstrations at the HVLE station in Spandau.
Explore the highlights from the last day of InnoTrans 2026!
Virtual Demonstrations at the Info Points
Today visitors also had the final opportunity to explore the results, technologies and innovative solutions developed through the Flagship projects at the Info Points in the stand, as well as immersive VR & AR demonstrations at the stand. Throughout the fair, the EU-Rail team and project partners from Flagship Areas 1, 2 and 6 have been presenting results, technologies and innovative solutions developed through the Flagship projects, covering a wide range of topics. Today, visitors could also explore the Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality at the stand, featuring immersive demonstrations and innovative solutions from FP3 projects.
At the System Pillar and Deployment Group Info Point, visitors had the opportunity to attend the interactive presentation by the EU-Rail FRMCS Deployment Group, discovering its work and addressing questions directly to the team. Karel van Gils and Ralf Marxen, Head of the FRMCS Deployment Group, together with representatives of each working group, presented the running activities and first results on the three working areas Deployment Technology, Finance and Legal, Scenarios and Alignment.
Panel Sessions at the Central Stage
Key highlights from the panels led by EU-Rail taking the stage include:
1. Panel Session “Start-ups in rail, breaking through technologies”
EU-Rail Senior Programme Manager, Judit Sandor, moderated the panel session titled: “Flashforward: Start-ups in Rail, Breaking Through Technologies.”
The session brought together emerging enterprises within the rail sector to showcase their latest technological developments and address primary operational challenges. Core topics of discussion included overcoming industry barriers and sharing practical deployment strategies, methods for successfully integrating new concepts and technologies into the existing rail ecosystem and strategic lessons learned from scaling innovative solutions within a traditional industrial sector.
2. Panel Session: “FRMCS Is Coming: Be aware, be prepared!”
Karel Van Gils, Senior Programme Manager/Seconded National Expert at EU-Rail, closed the day at InnoTrans with the panel discussion “FRMCS Is Coming: Be Aware, Be Prepared!”. The speakers discussed the latest status of FRMCS specification development and priorities for pre-deployment activities, ahead of the end of testing, which is expected to conclude in September 2027. The discussion focused on the industry’s readiness and migration options towards FRMCS-compatible ETCS versions.
“We are here with the entire sector, and we need collaboration to work together on the same process. Integration is not just technical: it also means processes, knowledge, and planning, always keeping market needs in mind.”
With another enriching day at InnoTrans, the fair is now approaching its conclusion, with the final day taking place tomorrow. The fair has provided a lively platform for projects, stakeholders and visitors to connect, exchange ideas and discover how research and innovation are helping shape the European railway system of the future.
These have been busy and fruitful days. We invite you to relive them with us via the links below.
Multimedia:
- Video summary of the day