THROUGH THE TUBE AT 1,100 KM/H – HYPERLOOP IN GERMANY The hype surrounding the Hyperloop has died down. But that doesn’t mean work isn’t continuing on it, as the Technical University of Munich shows, because Germany is getting its first test tube in Bavaria. This first Hyperloop is to be built near Munich. The researchers want to use it to test hyperloop technology in practice. The tube is to be 24 meters long. A vacuum is to be created inside it so that a vehicle can move through the tube […]
How NFTs could influence the rail market Non-fungible tokens have been the talk of the town for a long time: German Youtuber Fynn Kliemann, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and even the trading house Christie’s held auctions with non-fungible tokens (NFTs). So far, their use is mainly a topic in the art market, but NFTs have potential in other areas as well: the NFT blockchain is not limited to its use as a cryptocurrency platform alone. For all the hype, however, there is also justified criticism – the carbon footprint of […]
THE DIGITAL AUTOMATIC COUPLER (DAC) IS A FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCK AND MILESTONE FOR THE GROWTH OF RAIL FREIGHT TRANSPORT THROUGHOUT EUROPE! In the history of freight cars, screw couplings have been used exclusively ever since. In this process, a shackle weighing approx. 20 kg has to be placed on the hooks of two wagons so that the two wagons can then be connected to each other by turning a screw thread of the couplings. The air lines for brakes as well as power and data bus lines are then coupled […]
3D printing has been in professional use in industry for many years and enables a wide variety of products. Since the first commercially available 3D printer in 1988, which was based on the laser sintering process, a lot has changed to today’s methods and processes. The generic term for all this is the so-called “additive processes”, in which components are built up layer by layer. Deutsche Bahn and all its suppliers also produce spare parts from metal and plastic using 3D printing. This can drastically shorten delivery times in particular. […]
As a result of the Covid‐19 lockdown and the associated increased adoption of the working from home model, many companies have had to restructure their IT, leading to changes in working methods and processes and potentially creating new vulnerabilities in IT security. In addition, working from home workplaces open up new gateways for hackers. Thus, hacker attacks increased substantially in the course of the pandemic. However, not only during the pandemic, but also before, companies and public institutions became victims of hacker attacks, which led to the “lockdown” of […]
The sharing economy thrives on the collaborative use of goods and services. In times of contact restrictions and pandemics, however, this is becoming much more difficult. Before the Corona crisis, the sharing economy was estimated to have a turnover of 335 billion US dollars in 2025 in its core areas of mobility and flat-sharing. Five years ago, the industry’s turnover was only 15 billion US dollars (cf. PwC 2015). This turnover forecast still illustrates the hype behind the sharing economy in recent years. However, the hopes placed in the sharing […]
Dependencies on information and communication technologies, threats to critical infrastructures through terrorism, cybercrime or extraordinary crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic as well as threats to energy suppliers require systems that are optimally prepared for these situations. Only in this way is it possible for small, medium-sized and large companies to react appropriately to emergencies and crises. As a result of the current pandemic, many companies are in active crisis management and are trying to react to the consequences of the crisis at short notice. At the same time, […]
Condition monitoring systems have already proven successful in industrial areas, e.g. power plant technology and wind power, and are part of the basic equipment of the machines or components to be monitored there. Condition monitoring systems are not limited to specific physical values, such as vibration signals, temperature or pressure, but are generally used for condition monitoring of machines and/or components as well as complete systems. What’s in it for me? Due to high market pressure and growing competition, it is of great importance to optimise service processes in […]
According to the industry association Bitkom, the European market for artificial intelligence (AI) will grow from around three billion euros in 2019 to 10 billion euros in 2022. This results in an average annual growth of 38 percent. By comparison, last year the market volume was just 2 billion euros. AI and machine learning are becoming a megatrend and hold immense potential for automating and increasing efficiency in a wide variety of industries and fields of application, and will also significantly change the rail market. While artificial intelligence forms the […]
