11th RAILWAY TALK

9 December 2025

17:00 CET

Next stop: technology on track
Exploring VR, AR and AI in railway operations

Programme:

Presentations & Speakers:

Chair: Dipl. Ing. Marco Corradini, EURAIL Ing

FIRST PRESENTATION

Exploring VR, AR and AI in railway operations

Dr. Eng. Luca Gioiello
Safety Engineer
Working at Mercitalia Rail Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane
PhD Student at Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”

The session aims to provide a practical perspective on how emerging technologies are being adopted in the railway sector, with a particular focus on operational applications. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be explored as tools that can support process optimization, improve decision-making, and, above all, strengthen safety in daily railway operations.

VR enables immersive training programs, where staff can repeatedly practice high-risk scenarios—such as signaling malfunctions or rolling stock anomalies—within a safe and controlled environment.

AR brings information directly to frontline workers, offering real-time diagnostic support and visual guidance that help reduce human error and increase efficiency.

AI, on the other hand, provides powerful capabilities for defect recognition on infrastructure and rolling stock, enhancing inspections, predictive maintenance, and monitoring activities.

Yet, technology alone is not enough. Railway operations are, and will remain, a human-centered environment. This is why the concept of safety culture—and, more specifically, Just Culture—is crucial. Building a culture where people feel empowered to learn from mistakes, share responsibility, and embrace innovation is the foundation for making digital transformation truly effective. In this sense, technology should not be seen as replacing human expertise, but rather as an ally that supports people in working more safely, more confidently, and more collaboratively.

SECOND PRESENTATION

VR & AI – Curse or blessing of new technologies

A dialectical controversy in a sociocultural context

Markus Bolli
Suprexa AG, Switzerland

From the collaboration on various projects for the transformation of companies in a wide range of industrial, economic and social sectors over the last 30 years, it is noticeable that technologies are developing faster than the social context can adapt to the new circumstances. Only a few companies have managed to even come close to achieving Industry 4.0. These few companies, upon closer examination of the circumstances, cannot yet be considered to have arrived in Industry 4.0. Even companies like Google, Facebook, Temu, Amazon, UBS etc. do not leave real their sphere of influence and their core business. We will now consider the two objects Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the sociocultural context of the industrial evolutions of Industry 3.0 and 4.0.

Railways are a world unto themselves. Nevertheless, changes in the railway world are subject to the degree of change in society in general. This is why VR and AI must be considered in the context of societal development. I will show that the problems we face today can only be successfully solved through an end-to-end approach. Whether it’s a general ATP or ATO-GoA4 or a E2E CO2 balance sheet of a corporation – the questions are always hyper-complex.

Today’s problems cannot be solved with yesterday’s methods. While simple and complicated problems could previously be solved using linear methods, complex and hypercomplex problems can only be solved using circular approaches. For linear problems, a semi-manual IC technology (Word, Excel, DB) was sufficient.

For complex and hypercomplex questions, state-of-the-art ICT on level Industry 4.0 and 5.0 is required, including a meta-cloud of freely accessible data and high performance simulations. A freely accessible meta-cloud is a prerequisite for VR and AI and any simulation.

To use VR and AI is not an option – it is mandatory. That’s the mousetrap of the time.

Discussion