After breakfast together and some cool drinks, we headed to the party at C.A.R.L..

We wish you all a happy and foolish carnival season!

Mr. Felix Lampe passed his doctoral examination on January 29th, 2026. The title of his dissertation is: "Quality assessment and forecasting of the condition development of railway station infrastructure".
The Institute of Transport Science congratulates quite cordially!

We are pleased to announce that the IRSA 2025 conference proceedings have now been published and are available online.
We hope you enjoy reading them!

Please save the date for the next IRSA conference: November 24-25, 2027, in Aachen

Our colleague Tamme Emunds spent the month of November on a research visit at the Institute for Mobility at KU Leuven. We sincerely thank the team of Prof. Pieter Vansteenwegen for their warm welcome and inspiring collaboration. We are eager to hear about the impressions and ideas Mr. Emunds will share with us from his stay.

The Institute for Mobility, led by Prof. Vansteenwegen, is dedicated to solving complex logistical challenges, particularly planning and optimization problems in transport systems.

We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the UnRAVeL Graduate School for supporting this research stay.

On November 21, seventeen graduates of RWTH Aachen University were honored with the Friedrich Wilhelm Award for their outstanding achievements. Among them, our colleague Alexandra Benz received the prize for her master's thesis titled "Development of a Uniform Assessment Standard for Evaluating the Operational Quality of Railway Lines."
In addition, she was invited to speak about her experiences during the master's thesis as part of an on-stage interview with RWTH Rector Ulrich Rüdiger. Prof. Nießen, who supervised her thesis, was also invited to join the interview and provided fascinating insights into VIA's research focus areas.
We warmly congratulate her on this exceptional achievement!

This week, the ELVA hosted the launch of the DB Bahn:Klasse! program. Over the course of two semesters, students receive exclusive insights into projects and the daily work of Deutsche Bahn. The program is complemented by individual mentoring tailored to the participants' needs. This year, the program is being offered at RWTH Aachen for the first time. After a welcome by Katja Rasch and Alexander Fuß, the project sponsors introduced themselves. Afterwards, participants had the chance to talk with their mentors over snacks and get to know each other better. To conclude the event, the upcoming program activities and highlights were presented.
We look forward to many exciting insights in the months ahead!

the 5th International Railway Symposium Aachen will take place at the Eurogress in Aachen from November 19 to 20, 2025. With scientific presentations and practical lectures covering all aspects of the railway system, it offers the ideal forum for discussing current issues, challenges, and possible solutions. We expect around 250 experts from industry, science, and public authorities to attend. Registration information can be found at the following link.
We look forward to seeing you!

On November 14, the RWTH Science Night "5 to 12" will take place. The Railway Signalling Lab (ELVA) will be open between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Additional, guided tours will also be offered. More information can be found here.