Less than a week remains until RailTech Europe ’26, RailTech’s two-day exhibition and conference in Utrecht bringing together infra managers, suppliers, operators and policymakers. From battery trains and greener procurement to military mobility, ERTMS and cyber resilience, join us in Utrecht to unpack what’s driving decisions across European rail right now.
Sustainability or security? With Europe’s politics tilting hard towards defence and preparedness, there’s a growing concern in the rail sector that decarbonisation could be pushed down the agenda. But as CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola told RailTech recently, the two are not competing priorities. “Sustainability and military mobility are two sides of the same coin,” he said, framing rail as both Europe’s cleanest mass land transport mode and a uniquely capable system for moving heavy equipment across long distances.
This dual focus underpins the RailTech Europe ’26 conference, a high-level programme in addition to the exhibition and workshops the event offers. Kicking off next Wednesday at Jaarbeurs in the heart of the Netherlands in Utrecht, the two-day conference brings together Europe’s top experts and industry drivers to help shape the conversation around the future of rail. As the impact of the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions can already be seen, here’s a breakdown of what to expect from the conference.
Day 1: Net-zero ambition meets delivery
Day 1 of RailTech Europe is dedicated to sustainability and net-zero delivery, from green materials and procurement to battery and hydrogen traction, digital asset management and the future of alternative drives.
In the first session, UIC’s Director of Sustainability Lucie Anderton sets the tone with a keynote on how rail can lead on climate, from battery traction to digital optimisation and greener infrastructure. She is followed by Italferr President Laura Martiniello, who will explore the role of sustainability and ESG in rail infrastructure. Lastly, Transport & Environment’s Carlos Rico will add a policy-critical perspective, focusing on what funding and regulation must do differently if rail is to accelerate decarbonisation.
The late morning then shifts from strategy to steel and concrete. Building green tracks – sustainable materials and procurement dives into the cost question: how do infrastructure managers actually afford green steel, recycled concrete and circular business models? SBB Infrastructure’s Sarah Weber outlines how procurement reform and collaboration can make sustainability affordable, before joining UIC, Italferr and Thiomaterials in a panel on greening rail infrastructure with more sustainable materials and strategies. Siemens Mobility’s Systems Engineering team lead Alessandra Scholl Sternberg will then add an engineering perspective to close the session, explaining how advanced digital control systems can also play a role in reducing energy consumption.
After lunch, attention turns to the machines and systems that keep the network running. Lithuania’s LTG Infra CEO Vytis Žalimas presents national decarbonisation initiatives making strides in electrification and battery trains, while Hitachi Rail’s Gemma Salazar Luque explores next-generation digital asset management. The session also tackles the “yellow fleet” challenge of moving maintenance and on-track machinery away from diesel, and the infrastructure needed for alternative drives. This panel is joined by Vytis Žalimas of LTG Infra, Director of Technology and Innovation at Plasser & Theurer Florian Auer, and Mehmet Yavuz Güngör, infrastructure project Manager at the Investment & Finance Office of Türkiye.
The afternoon also brings one of the sector’s liveliest debates: the path to net-zero trains. Germany’s Lennart Fink outlines Deutsche Bahn’s experience with hydrogen stabilisation and battery charging expansion, setting up a panel with Siemens Mobility and NEXRAIL on alternative drives and the trade-offs behind each technology choice. The day closes by looking much further ahead, as Hardt Hyperloop’s Mars Geuze sketches what fully green, high-speed mobility in the shape of contemporary hyperloops could mean in the long term, no doubt fuelling interesting discussions for during the drinks afterwards.
Day 2: Defence, digital unity and resilience
Day 2 turns squarely to Europe’s defensive shift, examining military mobility funding, dual-use corridor upgrades, algorithmic capacity management, accelerated ERTMS rollout and the growing importance of cyber resilience. The morning opens CER Executive Director Alberto Mazzola, highlighting rail as a dual-use backbone for Europe’s security, connectivity and preparedness. He is joined by European Parliament Member Kai Tegethoff (Greens/European Free Alliance) and UNIFE Director General Enno Wiebe to unpack what the new funding logic means in practice: which projects move first, how trade-offs are managed, and how rail navigates the EU’s evolving criteria.
Session 2 moves from policy to infrastructure detail. Germany’s DZSF will present research on how military mobility can intersect with bottlenecks, sidings and surge capacity, while Rail Baltica’s Emilien Dang will bring a live cross-border perspective on how defence is shaping the megaproject. DB InfraGO’s Hannah Richta then dives into algorithmic dispatching, showing how mathematical optimisation and AI can unlock latent capacity on saturated networks and how smarter real-time control can strengthen network robustness and support Europe’s evolving resilience ambitions.
In the afternoon, Security through digital unity focuses squarely on ERTMS and interoperability. ERA’s ERTMS head Jo De Bosschere addresses how accelerated rollout and integration with FRMCS can strengthen both capacity and protection. Industry and programme leaders from Europe’s Rail, Nordic Signals and The Signalling Company debate implementation challenges, before Dutch experts from PA Consulting and the national ERTMS Program Directorate share lessons from the Netherlands’ ERTMS transformation.
The conference concludes with resilience in the digital domain. NS Cybersecurity Director Dimitri van Zantvliet sets out the current cyber threat landscape facing rail, followed by a panel with Alstom and NS cybersecurity leaders on governance, detection and response in a high-risk environment.
Come join us!
Across two days, RailTech Europe ’26 will bring together the people shaping Europe’s rail agenda at a moment when climate pressure and geopolitical reality are colliding. If you want to be in the room as those conversations unfold, join us next week in Utrecht and secure your place while tickets are still available.
