Briefing 2025/26

Our Fundamental Question

How can we reliably detect people on, at, or inside a train – and prevent accidents before they happen?

In this challenge, we invite makers, engineers, and innovators to develop a robust presence detection system for railway vehicles. The goal is to increase safety during maintenance, prevent dangerous situations like train surfing, and detect unauthorized access to vehicles.

The Challenge

You will work on a solution that can detect:

  • People or objects on the vehicle roof during maintenance operations

  • Persons at the vehicle exterior, e.g. in train-surfing scenarios

  • People inside the vehicle for intrusion and alarm purposes

Your solution should clearly distinguish real events from false alarms and operate reliably in a demanding railway environment.

What Makes This Interesting

  • Technology-open: optical, ultrasonic, radar, or completely new sensing concepts are welcome

  • Real-world relevance: your idea directly contributes to preventing accidents and improving railway safety

  • System thinking required: sensing, reliability, and integration all matter

Technical Focus Areas

  • Reliable detection with minimal false positives

  • Railway-grade robustness (EN 50xxx environment)

  • Communication with the train control system via IP-based interfaces

Who Should Join?

  • Makers & hardware hackers

  • Sensor and embedded systems experts

  • AI / signal processing enthusiasts

  • Teams who enjoy solving real industrial problems with creative freedom

If you enjoy building practical, safety-critical solutions and want to see your ideas applied to real trains, this challenge is for you.

Join the challenge and help shape the future of safer rail transport.

Your contact persons

Marija Wiesinger
ALSTOM
Lean Manager
LinkedIn

Florian Gombotz
ALSTOM
Project Manager
LinkedIn

György Jeney
ALSTOM
Project Manager
LinkedIn

 
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About Alstom

We make the rail the backbone of a world in motion.

We integrate every dimension of rail into end-to-end solutions that improve availability, reduce total cost of ownership, and adapt to evolving needs and pressures. Our mission is to turn tomorrow's mobility challenges into opportunities that create value through smarter, more sustainable and more resilient rail solutions.

More details about ALSTOM

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