railVIVID 2.0: Major Step Forward in railML® Validation

railML.org has officially launched railVIVID 2.0 with significant improvements to the validation of railML® data. The release introduces completely restructured features with a strong focus on maintainability and usability and is now available for productive use.

What is railVIVID?

railVIVID is a free tool for validating and visualising railML® data. It provides an accessible way to check railML® files without requiring deep knowledge of XML or railML® syntax. The tool is particularly useful for railway software developers, data analysts and certification applicants to resolve errors in their railML® files. While it does not replace official certification of railML® interfaces, it serves as an essential pre-validation tool to refine their files prior to submission.

Where it started?

At the 45th railML® Conference, discussions highlighted the complexity and functionality issues of railVIVID 1.3.0 for railML® validation and visualisation. After evaluating several options, the decision was made to develop railVIVID 2, a modernised version based on .NET 8.

Key features[nbsp] in railML 2.0

With this release, railVIVID 2.0 refines its validation process, in particular accurate syntactic and semantic checks based on official railML® schemas and approved semantic constraints. The tool is freely available as desktop[nbsp] application with a better performance and compatibility. It provides various export options for users to save validation results in PDF, CSV or Excel formats for further analysis and reporting. Notable improvements include:

• Extended syntactic validation capabilities for official railML 2.x, 3.x files with more precise checks for improving data consistency;
• Partial semantic validation, in particular against approved railML 2.X constraints;
• Detailed insights into syntactic and semantic errors, warnings and schema extensions.

What is planned?

Future developments for railVIVID 2 include semantic validation for railML 3.X files, along with integrated reference checking to ensure if references in the file correctly correspond to the element types. Furthermore, a structured, phased approach is planned to implement advanced visualisation capabilities that will allow users to view railML® subschemas in tabular and graphical formats. These visualisation updates will initially focus on railML® 3.X, followed by railML® 2.X, to further enhance the tool's capabilities and make data analysis even more intuitive.

A free download and further information for all interested is available on our website. For further inquiries and feature requests, please contact our railVIVID developer Marharyta Vyskarka via email.