railML is an open-source data exchange format, which is developed by the railML community – a consolidation of various companies, research and governmental organisations active in the railway sector. This community is open to everyone interested in further enhancing the schema – regardless of regional origin, professional knowledge or professional status. 

How the development is organised and how it can be accessed is described in the following:

• railML Forum: The railML Forum is used to discuss best practices, potential changes and novelties of the schema.
  It is accessible for everyone and editable by all registered users after confirmation as well as working group members.
• railML News: On the railML.org website we regularly publish news articles about important topics. E.g. the release of a new schema version is always announced here and ongoing activities within the railML.org organisation.
• railML working groups: As the schema itself the development takes place in accordance to the subschemas infrastructure, interlocking, timetable and rolling stock. Active working groups currently exist in all subschemas except rolling stock. The developers of the different groups meet 3-4 times a year and regularly every 2-4 weeks exchange in status web-conference/calls.
• railML conferences: Twice a year the railML conferences take place. Traditionally the spring conference focuses on the German speaking community, the autumn conference on the international English speaking community. The conferences are free of charge thanks to the support of our partner companies and participation is open to anybody interested. 

The development of railML takes place use case based. The current use cases are listed and described in the railML Wiki. The use cases are requirements from the community and integrated version-based.

Workflow for extensions and changes

If you have concrete needs for further development or suspect errors, the integration/development procedure will be the following:

1. Creation of forum post with detailed description and contact details (phone number & email address) for queries
   (alternatively contact to the coordinator by the website or by email)
2. Discussion in the railML Forum with the railML community
3. Creation of ticket in railML.org's TRAC ticketing system by subschema coordinator which links the modification with a future railML version
4. Modelling by community together with you
5. Final discussion and approval by railML community and subschema coordinator
6. Integration into SVN repository and next railML release

You can contribute to the railML developments by actively participating in a working group or the railML Forum. Should you be interested in this, please do not hesitate to contact us.