2023.12.08

Prolan Zrt. was the main sponsor of the first edition of the new series of discussion panel - organised by HUNGRAIL and Hungarian Railways, called the Hungarian Railways Meetup, focusing on digitalisation.

The aim of the Meetup series is to provide a professional forum and platform for railway companies and their employees allowing them to share their aspirations and experiences.

Many of the professional partners attending the event mentioned that digitalisation serves as a tool for sustainability and climate protection as also. Another lesson learned was wide range of operating systems used on railways, where such inhomogeneity may vary by age, manufacturer, knowledge resulting high labour and cost intensive process to establish compatibility. As stated by a participant, half of the development work is interface development. Furthermore  railway systems are generating an enormous amount of digital data already, which is considered to increase in the future. Such valuable data could be worthwhile to share and analyze among the parties concerned, using artificial intelligence even.

On behalf of Prolan – as the main sponsor of the event, Daniel Mráz (CEO) opened the event.

He explained that traditional elements such as the traction cable system or the Domino 55, that refers to the year 1955 are still in today's Hungarian reality. He emphasized, that whith all respect to the elderly, a considerable leap is necessairy not only to leave these traditional solutions but mainly to allow keeping  pace with the latest developments and to switch to a more modern, more efficient and high level passenger service system. Digitalization is the key to such initiative.

"As a company of 33 years, Prolan and its engineers’ are working on developing equipments and safety-critical systems that meet the needs of Hungarian railways."

Márton Feldmann (Deputy CEO of Prolan) invited the Meetup participants on a special journey through time in the world of railway digitalisation, full of puzzles and music – within his presentation "The Price of Development - Cyclicality and Lessons in Railway Digitalisation". The lecture highlighted key concepts and events such as ETCS, TEN-T corridors, privatisation of UK railways, GSM-R and KÖFI.

In addition to the rise of digitalisation, Márton highlighted the rapid obsolescence of tools in this field. As an expample, he cited that there are equipments installed in 1997 yet had been dismantled and replaced by new ones. New technologies define the future, but it is also worrying that considerably new equipments are already being replaced. Investment cycles used to be much longer (30-50-80 years), and shortening them results increasing investment necessity  in railways.

Prolan's goal is to deliver sustainable and reliable products to the market ensuring stable operation."

The deputy CEO also highlighted that the same systems are being installed in 2023 as at the millennium, but with internal technological improvements, hardware replacements, keeping the original standard interfaces to ensure customer satisfaction.

The afternoon continued with two roundtable discussions. The first keynote was entitled: Is the rail sector facing a critical period for digital signalling and train control?

The panel included:

    Márton Feldmann, Deputy CEO of Prolan

    Miklós Szlatényi, IT Manager of VPE Vasúti Pályakapacität-elosztó Nonprofit Kft.

    Tibor Ikker, Director of the GYSEV Railway Infrastructure Department

    Zoltán Magyar, Director of Telecommunications, Power and Fuse Installations of MÁV

Theother roundtable discussion focused on: How digitalisation promotes energy efficient rail transport.

Participants in this discussion:

    Réka Németh, Director General of Traffic and Operations of MÁV

    György Mikics, Managing Director of Ground Transportation Systems Hungary Kft.

    János Oláh, Head of Department of Digital Products and Brake Control at Knorr-Bremse Vasúti Járműrendszerek Hungária Kft.

    Szabolcs Mátyus, Head of Business Development and Project Management at Rail Cargo Hungaria

In addition to the round table discussions, Zoltán Magyar from MÁV, György Mikics, the professional partner of the forum, the managing director of Ground Transportation Systems Hungary Kft., and Tibor Ikker, the professional partner of the event, the director of the GYSEV railway.

The event was extremely successful and meaningful, as a wide range of representatives and stakeholders from the rail industry were brought together. The discussions provided excellent opportunity for professionals to share their experiences, gain new knowledge and actively participate in professional dialogues.