The International Railway Summit reunion breakfast held on September 22 in Berlin produced a lively debate on digitisation and what the rail industry needs to do to realise the benefits on offer. Kevin Smith was in the audience.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Messe Berlin, the organiser of the InnoTrans railway exhibition which took place in Berlin from September 20-23, says the event attracted 144,470 trade visitors - an increase of 4% compared with 2014 - from more than 140 countries.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Germany’s new open-access operator Locomore presented one of its refurbished locomotive-hauled passenger coaches as it prepares to introduce its first service linking Stuttgart and Berlin on December 14.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Frauscher, Austria, unveiled its new acoustic sensing system which is able to monitor a railway along an optic fibre cable already belonging to the railway.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Linsinger, Austria, showed a prototype self-propelled grinding machine suitable for use in metros, and trials are planned later this year on the Berlin U-Bahn.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: Growing demand from other modes and industries for internet-connected technologies requires urgent action from the rail industry to protect the bandwidth it has already secured and will require in the future, according to Mr Josef Doppelbauer, executive director of the European Union Agency for Railways.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: ITALIAN steel producer Aferpi, Lucchini Rails and SMS Group have unveiled plans for a new rail production facility.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: HUNGARIAN State Railways (MÁV) presented its new FMK-008 track condition measurement train at InnoTrans, the first time it has been publicly displayed outside Hungary.

IRJ at InnoTrans 2016: SIEMENS presented the first driverless Inspiro metro train for Riyadh metro Line 1 (Blue Line) to representatives of Arriyadh Development Authority (ARA) at InnoTrans on September 20.

IRJ at Innotrans 2016: ABB unveiled its new Effilight traction transformer at InnoTrans on September 20.