48th railML® Conference: A Platform for Mutual Education

by Sharon Király (railML.org)

The 48th railML® conference, hosted on November 5th by the esteemed railML partner ADIF on their premises in Madrid, inspired attendees with its avid exchange of best practice examples from railML partners and latest updates on railML 3.4 development. The conference was held in a hybrid format, connecting more than 100 partners from all over Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and China. We would like to express our sincere thanks to our partner ADIF for its special role in organizing the event.

The thematic lectures were framed by welcoming words from Avelino Rodriguez Lozano, ADIF’s Deputy Director of Solutions and Products and, concluding, an animated open discussion of community matters.

Updates on railML 3.4 and railVIVID 2.x

railML.org e.V.’s Governance Coordinator Vasco Paul Kolmorgen announced the highly anticipated launch of the railML 3.4 Beta 2 version, which will be available for download shortly and awaits feedback from community review processes. railML 3.4 beta 2 contains the result of the mfund funded project IDX4rail, which connects tramway and railway data. Mr. Kolmorgen also gave an insight into the timeline of railML 3.4 development and its corresponding emerging use cases. All emerging use cases for railML 3.4 are listed in the railML Wiki. Attendees were further informed that railML 3.1 will be supported until December 2027. In a second lecture, Mr. Kolmorgen provided the community with relevant governance and organisational news from railML.org, e.g. updates to the ontology Wiki.

railML schema coordinators Milan Hoffmann (Timetable), Christian Rahmig (Infrastructure), Dr. Jörg von Lingen (Interlocking and Rolling Stock), and Thomas Nygreen (Commons) reported on developments in their respective domains. The key points of these presentations can be summarized as follows:

  • Updates on Capacity Allocations, Replacement Services and RailDax contributions for the TT subschema
  • Input on Smarter Locations, Geometry & Survey Data for the IS subschema
  • Updates on corresponding use cases of IL and RS, as well as input on several elements of the IL and RS subschemas
  • Input on Meta Data, Designators and States for the Common subschema

Furthermore, developer Margo Vyskarka presented an exciting new feature of the latest railVIVID version, a validation software for railML files: the inclusion of graphic visualization for selected infrastructure elements for railVIVID version 2.1.0. You can find more information on railVIVID 2.1.0 in the news article accompanying its release.

Lectures from Partners - Best Practice and Project Reports

Francisco Luna Millan, adhering to the host organisation ADIF (ES), showcased how digital transformation and enhancement of railway systems was enabled through the implementation of railML®. Best practice examples were also given by Edward Tollinton from Network Rail (GB) who focussed on rail data transfer for modelling, Daniel Molina Marinas from CEDEX (ES) who spoke about the contribution of ERTMS Lab to rail data, and José Enrique Fernández Martín from MINSAIT (global operation) who explained how the IDEADIF Team was able to adapt Adif’s information to railML® format.

Aside from practical application, lecturers also gave insights into current projects linked to railML® development such as the railML 3.4 use case ATOI (Automated Train Operation Information) submitted by railML partner Hitachi Rail GTS (DE), presented by Stefan Hubrig.

Since railML has been established as an ISO standard (ISO/TS 4398) in 2022, Torben Brand’s (Jernbanedirektoratet, NO) status report on ISO RailDax Revision (ISO/TS 4398:2022) was considered a special highlight of the conference.

Download of Presentations and Conference Materials

Once logged in with your personal railML-Account, you can download all conference presentations and additional material here: 48th railML conference. Community contributions are welcome. Please direct your feedback or comments per e-mail to orga@governance.railml.org.

Save the date!

The next railML conferences are set for 17th June, 2026 (virtual only) and end of October / early November 2026 (hybrid). The latter will feature the release of railML version 3.4. To not miss out on any announcement regarding these events, check the railML newsfeed and follow us on LinkedIn.