On the 7^th of October, 2018 the railML 2.4 schema was officially released. It contains various enhancements in all three contained subschemas, timetabling, infrastructure and rolling stock. A selection of changes is listed below, sorted by subschemas:

Timetable:

• Introduction of element <trackInfo>, allowing a specification of several different track and platform designations for one OCP.
• Introduction of element <stopActivities> to describe the activities that are carried out at this stop
  (e.g. drop or collect wagons or motor units, shunting, crew changes, etc.).
• Introduction of element <topologyReference> that can be used to specify the corresponding external topology that the receiving system shall use for the train for a particular timeframe.
• Introduction of element <replacementOf> to list the cancelled trains that are replaced by a train.

Infrastructure:

• Revocation of deprecated decision for <infrastructureVisualization> sub schema
• Enhancement of speed model with regard to mandatory stops
• Introduction of new signalling element <lock> to model the physical safety element lock.
• Extension of description of element <controller> for operational purposes
• Review of OCP characterization by updating OCP operational and traffic type
• Extension of <electrificationChange> element to meet needs of maximum train current in some railway line sections defined in EN 50388.
• Some elements and attributes have been marked deprecated, as they were not used
  (e.g. signal@maskableATC, signal@sight, ocp/propOther@frontier etc.)
• The <state> element that differentiates disabled and enabled infrastructure was added to all infrastructure elements and extended by a time reference.

Rolling Stock:

• Introduction of element <technicalStopActivity> to identify the minimal technical times for stopping activites.
• Introduction of new elements to allow a calculation of the train resistance.
• Introduction of new attribute @etcsTrainCategory for the element <formation>.
• Descriptive names where included for the element <trainProtectionSystem>.
• Introduction of new attributes and sub-elements for the element <doors>
  (e.g. @openingTime, @closingTime).

The schema is available for download on the railML website. All changes have been integrated into the railML documentation in the railML wiki. In near future the railML developments will focus on railML3.x. Nevertheless, a railML 2.5 version may be published if there is a need from the community. Content and release time for this are not yet defined. Please contact railML.org for feedback or feature requests.