The demand for specialists for the expansion of the digital railway in Germany will continue to grow in the coming years. Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden) are setting up an endowed chair for digital railway systems at the Faculty of Transport Sciences "Friedrich List" at the TU Dresden in order to secure expertise in Germany in the long term.
TU Dresden Rector Ursula M. Staudinger: "Achieving the ambitious goals of Digital Rail Germany requires specific expertise. We want to develop this expertise at TU Dresden together with DB. The endowed chair for Digital Railway Systems underlines DB's confidence in the excellent research and teaching at TU Dresden, particularly in the railway sector. Endowed professorships build bridges between industry and research. The new professorship strengthens our potential in the field of automated and networked mobility. Future research results and trained junior staff are important factors in the development of future-proof and sustainable mobility systems. Railways play a key role in this".
Volker Hentschel, Head of the Digital Rail Germany Group Programme: "With the endowed chair for digital rail systems, we are investing seven million euros in the future of rail transport and the performance of the railways. Together with TU Dresden, we are securing urgently needed expertise in Germany to drive forward the expansion of the digital infrastructure. We want to attract up to 1,000 academic specialists. Digital rail will create more space for trains on existing tracks and increase reliability for our passengers.
The position will initially run for ten years. The funding includes a professorship, three research associates, two research assistants, as well as administrative and secretarial services. Scholarships will also be awarded to students to attract new students to the programmes.
The research activities of the new endowed chair for digital railway systems will focus on digital control and safety technology. The aim is to advance the development of methods for the analysis and design of safe technical systems. The focus will be on safety and risk assessment, end-to-end digital data management, technical analysis and approval procedures for railway systems. Innovative methods from operations research, formal methods, artificial intelligence, modelling and simulation will be used.
