Not only rail transport enthusiasts were waiting for the trade fair event, organized biennially since 1996, whose steady rhythm was interrupted by the pandemic. Although the IAA Transportation fair was held in Hanover almost in parallel, InnoTrans was visited by 140,000 visitors between September 20 and 23. The latter certainly left with a great wealth of knowledge, and the exhibitors with successful contracts. The Media Logistyka editorial team and experts from the Łukasiewicz-Poznań Institute of Technology were also represented at the fair.
Novelties and world premieres
If the organizers are to be believed, there were 250 world premieres on display, although from the perspective of an “average” trade fair visitor, it was difficult to get acquainted with even half of them. One thing is certain: the scale of the event and the “saturation” of the stands with novelties, especially in the area of low-emission rolling stock, certainly satisfied even the most demanding experts in the field. There was no shortage of any element that is of interest to representatives of the railway industry – from the design and equipment of rail vehicles, traffic control systems, safety systems, measurement and location systems, to tunnel construction technologies.
A great deal of attention from visitors was attracted by the part of the exhibition “debuting” this year under the slogan “Mobility +” as part of the “Public Transport” thematic block. Direct contact with the latest trends and conversations with high-level managers were certainly a unique opportunity for everyone interested in technological innovations related to shared mobility and electromobility in cities. The InnoTrans Campus, organized for the first time, also proved to be a success – a special meeting place for companies, as employers, with students and technicians who intend to link their professional future with working in the railway industry.
Poland joins the market leaders
The commercial and image successes of exhibitors known in many countries, visible at the fair, proved that domestic companies such as Pesa or Newag, which are facing a huge opportunity to consolidate their position in foreign markets, also belong to the group of leaders of the global railway market.
The shunting locomotive produced by Pesa, powered by hydrogen fuel, was one of the most frequently photographed objects exhibited on the tracks adjacent to the exhibition halls. The locomotive appeared in the company of a mobile hydrogen refueling station from PKN Orlen. The world premiere of the hydrogen “shunter” is the culmination of three years of work that the Bydgoszcz-based company has been conducting on the use of hydrogen fuel cell drives in rail vehicles.
The hybrid IMPULS 2 locomotive with an on-board supercapacitor energy storage system, produced by Newag from Nowy Sącz, also achieved international success, presenting itself with dignity next to the world’s most modern mobile measurement laboratory on rails from the Thales group.
Successful debates
The Berlin “must-have” for rail enthusiasts is not just an exhibition presenting the present and future of solutions for rail transport.
Also noteworthy is the rich conference program with the participation of experts representing EU institutions and international organizations related to the railway industry.
One of the trade fair events was a debate organized on the third day by the European Rail Industry Association (UNIFE), bringing together the 100 most important entities working for the industry, entitled “Open dialogue in the area of cybersecurity in rail transport: challenges and best practices”. The debate was attended by Christian Schmidt as a representative of the European Commission, Eddy Thesee from Alstom, and Marta Garcia, representing the organizer of the debate – the UNIFE Association. One of the most important threads of the discussion was drawing attention to the need to create European standards in the discussed area.
At the UNIFE stand, it was possible to get acquainted with a unique publication, which is the World Rail Market Study 2022-2027 prepared by the consulting firm Roland Berger. The experts’ report presents a diagnosis of the railway market in quantitative and value terms in strictly defined cross-sections, which are: services, rolling stock, infrastructure, control systems, and monitoring systems. The study covered 65 countries, representing a total of 98 percent of the global market.