6th SmartRaCon Scientific Seminar

The 6th Smart Rail Control Consortium (SmartRaCon) Scientific Seminar took place on October 23–24, 2024, in San Sebastian, hosted by CEIT. Organized by CEIT (ES), DLR (GE), RISE (SE), SINTEF (NO), University Gustave Eiffel (FR), and IBDiM (PL), the event was a two-day hybrid format featuring 3 keynote presentations, 7 PhD presentations, 13 project presentations, and 10 posters from 10 Europe’s Rail projects, delivered by 28 presenters representing 16 entities.

Key Highlights and Awards:

• Best PhD Contribution: David Kule Mukuhi (UGE) – NG-TCN: Towards Network Slicing in Onboard Wireless Train Communication Networks.
  Finalist: Imanol Bravo (CEIT) – Rail Fasteners Looseness Detection Using Axle-Box Acceleration Data.
• Best Project Contribution: Niloofar Minbashi (KTH) – An Integrated ETD Prediction System for Yards and Terminals.
  Finalist: Aria Mirzai (RISE) – Cybersecurity Risk Assessment of Virtually Coupled Train Sets.
• Best Poster Contribution: Melissa Tijink (Uni. Twente) – What is the Code of This Wagon?.
  Finalist: Itziar Ruiz (CEIT) – Repair of Wheel and Rails by Additive Manufacturing.
• Most Supportive Project: FP2-R2DATO.
  Finalists: FP3-iam4Rail, FP5-TRANS4M-R.

This seminar marked a shift from previous one-day events under Shift2Rail (X2Rail-1 to X2Rail-5) to a broader scope across Europe’s Rail projects, introducing PhD sessions that facilitated rich technical discussions.