Press Release #5 — FP3-IAM4RAIL at DigiTrack Discovery Market in the Netherlands

Press release #5

Amersfoort, The Netherlands. March 26, 2026.

FP3-IAM4RAIL will be present at the DigiTrack Discovery Market on March 26, 2026, at the Flint Theater in Amersfoort, a flagship event that brings together leading stakeholders from across the Dutch rail sector to explore cutting-edge digital innovations.

Organised by ProRail, one of the participants in the FP3-IAM4Rail project under Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, DigiTrack is an initiative aimed at accelerating the digital transformation within the rail industry, with the ambition of achieving a fully digital railway by 2040. The program brings together multidisciplinary teams to develop solutions addressing key challenges for passengers, freight operators and the broader environment. The DigiTrack will feature a Grand Finale in which six finalist teams will present their solutions to a jury composed of representatives from ProRail, NS and Arcadis. The event is expected to welcome approximately 400 visitors from across the rail and technology sectors.

Alongside the live pitching session, the DigiTrack Discovery Market will provide an interactive exhibition space featuring around 20 innovative digital applications, including robotics, drones and AI-based solutions. As part of the Discovery Market exhibition, FP3-IAM4RAIL will present its latest advances in digital railway monitoring through a dedicated stand led by researchers from Delft University of Technology and ProRail. The team will showcase live demonstrations, visual materials and videos illustrating how advanced sensing and artificial intelligence can transform infrastructure maintenance. A key highlight will be the demonstration of Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) technology for contactless monitoring of railway tracks, developed with the support of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking.

The Netherlands is already at the forefront of vibration-based railway monitoring, with ongoing large-scale deployment of onboard accelerometer systems on passenger trains. In FP3-IAM4RAIL, TUDelft and ProRail aim to extend this capability by integrating LDV sensing, significantly enhancing the resolution and diagnostic power of onboard monitoring systems and advancing the transition towards fully digital, data-driven railway infrastructure management. This technology is a new generation of monitoring systems capable of capturing ultra-high-frequency vibration data in the MHz range, orders of magnitude beyond what conventional approaches typically capture, which puts pressure on the development of state-of-the-art digital systems capable of handling such data in type and volume. The final goals are to enable continuous, non-contact assessment of critical components such as rails, sleepers, fasteners and embankments under real operating conditions from a massive amount of vibration data. By unlocking previously inaccessible dynamic behaviour, the technology supports earlier defect detection and more informed maintenance decisions.

With approximately 100 participants directly involved in the DigiTrack programme and a broad audience of industry experts, the event offers a valuable platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange and the demonstration of transformative technologies shaping the future of rail.

About DigiTrack

DigiTrack is the flagship innovation programme of ProRail, promoting digital transformation in the railway sector through collaborative hackathons and cross-organisational innovation initiatives.