On December 17, 2025, the OpenRail Association brought together the international open-source and railway community for the first edition of OpenRail Day @Paris. This one-of-a-kind event was designed to discuss and to explore the open-source railway innovation as well as to exchange with the people who are actively helping to shape the future of digital railways.

Over 500 professionals from railways, IT and especially IT for railways across Europe and beyond took part in:

• live demonstrations of open-source software for railways projects,
• technical as well as strategic discussions,
• collaborative workshops,
• and many meetings for knowledge exchange between railway, digital and open-source stakeholders from different countries.

This event was the ideal opportunity to present the decision support system helping the rollout of the Digital Automatic Coupling, the DAC Migration DSS, as well as the recent achievements of the DACFIT project in this scope. Please, find below a full summary of the course of the event.

In the morning, the participants could discover the topic of DAC Migration DSS in the Expo & Demo Zone. The DAC Migration DSS aims to provide a comprehensive, cross-project decision support for all aspects of planning the migration to the Digital Automatic Coupler. The currently most advanced part of the DAC Migration DSS is PopUpSim, developed by DB Systel. 

At the end of this part of the event, a short presentation, and a live demo of the DAC Migration DSS and the PopUpSim took place, showing how DAC migration can already be simulated in practice.

Later that day the DACFIT workshop on the Retrofit Capacity Plan took place. The focus was on exploring the opportunities and limitations of Open Data, Open Science and Open Source for the DACFIT Retrofit Capacity Plan, an activity that is closely linked with the DAC Migration DSS. 

The day was rounded off with presentations of the projects and roundtable discussions in the plenary. For the DAC Migration DSS it was highlighted why DAC migration is one of the most essential strategic tasks in European rail freight, how it can be planned responsibly, and why decisions at this scale need reliable data. The introduction of PopUpSim showed, how simulation can support choosing the right migration methodology and sizing infrastructure capacities correctly.  

Altogether over 500 attendees got in touch with the activities around the DAC, the DAC Migration DSS and the DACFIT during the day. Many thanks to Frederik Schäfer, Senior Referent DAC Migration from the DB Cargo who represented the topics at OpenRail Day Paris.

How can the Digital Automatic Coupler be rolled out across Europe without causing bottlenecks in workshops and fleets? That's exactly what the EU project DACFIT, supported by EU-Rail, aims to find out.

To plan future capacities realistically, VPI - Verband der Güterwagenhalter in Deutschland e. V. is conducting a Europe-wide survey among workshops and maintenance service providers. Many companies have already been invited directly, but even if you haven’t been contacted yet, your input is still highly valuable and welcome!

We want to better understand:
🔹 What services you offer
🔹 Which types of vehicles you maintain
🔹 What capacities you have today and expect in the future
🔹 What infrastructure and equipment are available on site

🕒 The survey takes just 6 minutes, is available in 16 languages, and will help make the DAC migration across Europe well-planned, practical, realistic and efficient. All responses are completely anonymous.

👉 Participate now and help shape the future of European rail freight: Survey

The 2025 TRAKO International Railway Fair is history. From September 23rd to 26th, Gdańsk in Poland was Europe’s railway heart. The event is considered the largest railway fair in Central and Eastern Europe and the second largest on the continent. New records were set at this year's edition with nearly 700 exhibitors and over 23,000 visitors from 54 countries.

TRAKO is a place to exhibit innovative solutions for railways. This opportunity couldn't be missed to present the latest achievements in the rollout of the Digital Automatic Coupling in Europe. Please, find below a full summary of the course of the event.

The first day of the fair was an opportunity to “Meet the DAC Experts” of different companies involved in the EuropeanDAC Delivery Programme and the Europe’s Rail projects FP5-TRANS4M-R, DACFIT and FP5DACtiVate. They were ready to answer questions from the public at the booths of DB Systemtechnik (incl. DB Cargo and DB Group), Instytut Kolejnictwa, PKP Group, Dellner – Train Connection Systems, and Voith Turbo. The experts were able to cover a wide range of aspects of the DAC project – from technology and operation through authorisation to migration preparation.

Later that day, the Guided DAC Tour organised by the European DAC Delivery Programme with support of Europe’s Rail and again the projects FP5-TRANS4M-R, DACFIT and FP5-DACtiVate took place. Nearly 30 participants were guided through various stations, getting a comprehensive overview of DAC activities across Europe. The tour started with a brief introduction by Nicolas Furio, Head of Innovation Pillar of Europ’s Rail and Enno Wiebe, the Executive Director of UNIFE, representing the European rail supply industry. Instytut Kolejnictwa continued, presenting its role in the DACFIT project and the project itself. FP5-DACtiVate project and PKP activities within it were presented next at the booth of PKP Group. And finally, DAC manufacturers, Dellner – Train Connection Systems and Voith Turbo, presented in turn their products - digital automatic coupler and hybrid coupler. 

The lively networking and exchange of views and ideas following the DAC tour continued during the DAC Panel Discussion, which rounded off the DAC activities on that day at TRAKO 2025. The panel organised by DACFIT project partner Instytut Kolejnictwa and Izba Gospodarcza Transportu Lądowego, brought together both DAC proponents and sceptics to discuss the advantages as well as challenges of DAC implementing and its implications for freight transport. The Head of Innovation Pillar, Nicolas Furio, opened the session with the introductory remarks. Further discussion included issues of progress in DAC implementation and PioDAC introduction, European migration strategies and the possible challenges of the transition period. Marek Pawlik from Instytut Kolejnictwa led through the debate with panelists, Libor Lochman from EDDP, Jan Bergstrand from Trafikverket, Zbigniew Jancewicz from PKP Group and Mirosław Szczelina from IGTL. The panelists provided detailed descriptions of current status of DAC and answered all questions from the audience.

Over 180 expert guests from the sector accepted the invitation from the VPI – Verband der Güterwagenhalter in Deutschland e. V. (Association of German Wagon Keepers) to take a deep dive into the DAC technology during the DAC Live Event at the TrainTestLab in Berlin. The focus was on key questions regarding the status of the digital automatic coupling and its migration.

The great interest shown, professional questions and openness of all participants towards the topic were impressive. All guests from 10 countries around Europe engaged in an intensive and lively exchange on the topic of the digital automatic coupling. At four info stations, they discussed following topics:

• Installation,
• Pop-up workshops,
• 3D scanning,
• DACFIT and EDDP migration.

The progress made in the DACFIT project, funded by the Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking, was presented in detail, with a focus on fleet analysis, workshop processes and capacities. Dr Jens Engelmann and the EDDP migration team led by Andreas Lipka and Matthias Knüpling answered many questions about the EDDP competently and openly. 

The highlight of the event was the live demonstration of the DAC coupling and uncoupling at the touch of a finger on a tablet. A real practical insight into the future of the rail freight transport.

The organising team from the VPI European Rail Service GmbH, FP5-TRANS4-R and the TrainTestLab as well as the Havelländische Eisenbahn AG created the perfect stage not only to present a lot, but also to learn a great deal first-hand from present owners, workshops, shippers, associations and authorities. It is precisely this dialogue on equal terms that drives innovation in the sector.

More from the event you can see in the video recap summarizing the day's impressions here.

Join us for an exclusive insight into the new EU-Rail project, DACFIT.

Discover how Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) is revolutionising rail fright, driving sustainability, and enabling digital transformation.

DACFIT plays a pivotal role in advancing DAC implementation, focusing on fleet retrofitting, capacity planning, and delivering a seamless transition to a fully digitalised rail freight system.

• Date: 16 December 2024
• Time: 9:30 - 11:30 AM CET
• Place: online

Safe the date – we look forward to your participation!

On Tuesday, 5 November 2024 the DACFIT project performed together with industry partners from the rail freight transport sector an installation test of the Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) in frame of the “DAC Industry Days”event. The aim was to test the installation of the coupling, including the spring package, under identical, structured conditions. The tools, set-up and work steps were thus for the first time comparable for all four coupling types. Four installation teams from other workshop companies were tasked with the installing work in the DB Cargo workshop in Mannheim: Kaminski Waggonbau, Alstom, RailMaint and Waggonwerk Brühl. 

Around 60 participants and guests followed the progress of the installation with interest and excitement, measured it or watched it on site as spectators.

The aim was to gain insights for the further optimisation of the coupling for its quick and efficient installation, the so-called “design to retrofit”:

• how long does it take to install a digital automatic coupling, 
• which tools are needed, 
• what prior expertise does the personnel need, 
• which information is relevant for the installation manuals? 

The findings from the installation tests are now being analysed for this purpose.  

The “DAC Industry Days” event took place over a total of three days at DB Cargo in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, Germany and was organised by the EU-Rail Flagship Project 5 TRANS4M-R.

 

With the DACFIT initiative lead by DB Cargo, seven partners within the European rail freight transport sector work together to prepare for the introduction of the Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC).

DACFIT’s main goals are:

• Technical analysis of freight wagons, locomotives and special-purpose vehicles,
• Evaluation of Europe’s workshop infrastructure,
• Assessing the challenges of migrating to DAC across Europe in terms of time and space.

The seven DACFIT partners are leading railway institutes and companies from across Europe: DB Cargo, Instytut Kolejnictwa, k + v, BME ITS, VUKV, Fraunhofer IML and VPI European Rail Service. 

The project duration is October 2024 to October 2026.

The DACFIT project is closely aligned with Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking initiatives, such as the European DAC Delivery Programme (EDDP) and the project FP5-TRANS4M-R.

DACFIT receives funding from Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking (EU Rail).

DACFIT is now working on preparing the European rail freight fleet for the Digital Automated Coupling. It is thereby enabling additional developments for the future of rail freight transport, based on digitalization and automation.