The year 2025 is drawing to a close. For the entire rail industry, it has once again been a year full of changes, announcements, and challenges. All the more reason for us to take this opportunity to thank all our users and partners for your trust and the great collaboration throughout the year.

For our team at Qnamic, 2025 was also a year full of valuable experiences and changes: We continuously developed our RailOpt platform, participated in exciting training sessions, and reconnected with many familiar faces at the User Group meeting in Mannheim. But even beyond the meeting, there were numerous encounters—both digital and in person—where we had productive (and sometimes personal) conversations with our users.

A big thank you also goes out to our team for the dedication and ideas that made this year possible. We look forward to taking on new challenges and further optimizing processes together with you in the coming year.

We wish you a relaxing and on-time journey into the holiday season.

Stay on track this holiday season – from all of us at Qnamic.

R2025.1 introduced extensive optimizations with the completely redesigned “Report Duty Changes” feature, especially enhancing collaboration between train drivers and dispatchers. Another highlight was the significant simplification of planning during route interruptions that result in cancellations or rail replacement services (see also: QnamicRelease 2025.1 • QNAMIC ).

Following the comprehensive expansions in the spring, this release focuses on detailed optimization. Numerous UI and performance improvements have been implemented. However, there are also functional advancements: The planning simplifications for route interruptions introduced in the last release have been further refined with the new “Replace Train Section” workflow. Train sections can now be replaced directly from the planning board. All relevant train run data is automatically transferred, and possible alternatives are suggested. Once confirmed by the planner, the new plan is adopted, the old train section is archived, and the process is documented. This step is now significantly faster and, thanks to the automatic transfer of existing data, error-free.

With R2025.2, an ambitious project was also completed, aligning traffic planning more closely with vehicle maintenance planning. Until now, vehicle orders had to be managed via Excel spreadsheets and initiated by email or phone with the transport control center. This mainly affected orders placed by the ECM (Entity in Charge of Maintenance), for example, to schedule vehicles for regular overhauls or wheelset replacements. This ordering process has now been digitized through interfaces: Vehicle orders can now be triggered from a specialized workshop system within the Order Management module. The interfaces were implemented generically using a common language, making it easy to connect systems from different manufacturers (e.g., SAP, IBM, etc.) to RailOpt. Orders are managed within Order Management and treated like regular assignments. This allows maintenance departments, after completing their planning in their maintenance system, to order specific vehicles (by vehicle number) for certain times and schedule them for overhauls. The order is considered in the planning, and the processing status is reported back to the system by the transport control center. Naturally, orders can also be edited or canceled.

We would like to thank our team for their dedicated work and our active user community for their constructive contributions to these developments. As always: After the release is before the release!

We are already looking forward to introducing more innovative features and developments with R2026.1!

CFL, a Luxembourg-based railway company, is fully committed to digital innovation. As a long-time RailOpt user, it was a natural step to implement Qnamic’s AI-based crew scheduling solution, which quickly led to complete and high-quality crew assignments. Creating a duty roster at CFL is a highly complex allocation process that must take into account not only working time regulations, but also qualifications such as vehicle knowledge, route knowledge, and, as an additional challenge at CFL, country-specific expertise. Previously, this was a time-consuming and error-prone task for planners. The “DSS Automated Crew Scheduling” module from RailOpt now handles this job with configurable AI algorithms, supporting planners by generating the most conflict-free crew assignments possible. What used to take several days each month is now prepared in just a few minutes. As a result, more efficient schedules are created in less time.

Serge Daems, Head of Service Activité Voyageurs Trains | AV, CFL, says:

“With automated crew scheduling, CFL is taking its workforce planning to a whole new level: Our teams create high-quality schedules with unbeatable speed—simply and efficiently. A true success story, and as CFL, we are extremely satisfied with this solution.“

Right on time for spring, the RailOpt Release R2025.1 has arrived. As always, we have put a lot of creativity and effort into the new release to make RailOpt even faster, better, and more user-friendly.

At this point, we would like to introduce two highlights from this release cycle, which further improve collaboration between train drivers and the control center and support the work of planners.

Report Service Changes:

The previous feature “Edit Services” has been thoroughly revamped and is now called “Report Service Changes.” Additionally, we have added some exciting features, three of which we would like to introduce here:

• Breaks on Trains: Train drivers can conveniently add unscheduled breaks via the web solution without interrupting the train’s schedule. Dispatchers always have an up-to-date overview, and rest times are calculated directly. This is a flexible and precise solution—especially in the dynamic cargo business.

• Create/Delete Tasks: Train drivers can now easily create or delete tasks via their web solution. Dispatchers receive planning adjustments based on the situation on-site without any additional communication effort.

• Travel Times Before/After Duty: With the revised feature, travel times outside of duty hours can now be easily scheduled and calculated.

• These feature enhancements further increase user-friendliness, give dispatchers an even more accurate overview, and make the calculation of break and travel times more precise.

Planning Assistance for Track Interruptions:

Another highlight of this release cycle is the expanded function that saves planners and dispatchers a lot of work in the event of track interruptions. If an interruption is scheduled for a route, resulting in a cancellation or replacement service, RailOpt can automatically adjust vehicle planning. RailOpt schedules the original train from the interruption point at the operating location, including vehicle turnaround or personnel resources, to the defined replacement or cancellation resources. This saves the planner many planning steps and relieves them in managing this complex situation.

Once again, our team was able to turn a lot of constructive feedback from our active user community into innovative solutions with this release. We remain committed to making the daily lives of railroaders easier and thus advancing the railroad as a whole. We are also pursuing this goal with the upcoming Release R2025.2.

On June 4th and 5th, the annual RailOpt User Group Meeting took place – this time in the “City of Squares,” Mannheim. Once again, numerous participants from various railway companies came together to exchange ideas on current developments, challenges, and solutions related to RailOpt. Among them were many familiar faces, but also some new ones.

The event began with a review of the latest release highlights, which once again offered exciting innovations and improvements – both for scheduling specifically and for operations in general.

This year, the thematic focus was primarily on substitute transportation concepts, Redesign of Path Ordering, complex services, and master data management. This led to lively discussions where attendees shared their practical experiences with these topics. In addition to a brief review and discussions on current issues, there was also a preview of the planned module redesigns in RailOpt.

As in previous years, guest lectures provided a fresh perspective and insights into the practical application of RailOpt at individual railway companies. Special thanks go to Silvan Zeiter, who offered an exciting glimpse into the planning processes of the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn through the shadow train concept, and Frederic Schiltz, who reported on the introduction of stabling planning at CFL. (See also: On the right track: CFL implements digital depot planning by Qnamic • QNAMIC)

In addition to the professional input, the informal part of the event, as always, provided numerous opportunities for engaging conversations and networking – even on a personal level. The two days flew by, and we are already looking forward to the next User Group Meeting!

A heartfelt thank you to all participants for their great commitment and inspiring contributions!

We are happy to announce that we became a member of the German industry association mofair in May. By joining, we are underscoring our commitment to digitalization in the railway sector—especially in one of Europe’s most central railway markets, whose developments have an impact far beyond national borders.

With our fully integrated resource management system, RailOpt, we bring over 20 years of project experience in train operations in the DACH region as well as in-depth expertise in implementing complex European regulations and requirements—such as those related to TAF/TAP TSI or labor law regulations. Especially in these areas, we are currently witnessing a great deal of uncertainty in the industry, which we address with practical solutions and hands-on experience.

We have been following mofair’s active, critical, and well-founded positioning with interest for some time. We are therefore all the more pleased to now contribute our perspective as a member—with the goal of working together to make competition conditions in rail transport more transparent and to drive digitalization forward in a targeted manner.

The Fall Release 2024.2 brings numerous innovations that are not immediately visible but have a significant impact on user experience. While the Spring Release 2024.1 focused on functional changes, this time it’s all about speed and usability. Numerous new selection (e.g., multi-selection during status changes in the schedule across multiple sections), configuration, and query options reduce repetitive tasks and accelerate planning work. Overall, we have been able to further optimize the system’s performance in many areas. For instance, response times for master data configurations and updating the schedule board after real-time train imports have been significantly shortened.

However, R2024.2 is not limited to improving user experience and performance. This release also includes functional enhancements that directly optimize planning processes. With common language, it is now possible to connect RailOpt to Open Journey Planner systems. The interface allows direct querying and planning of public transport connections from the schedule board. Planners can, for example, schedule duty trips within seconds. If a train driver needs to travel to their assignment location, the dispatcher can find and schedule the optimal travel route for the driver with just a few clicks. In this example, connection data is retrieved via a link to the SBB app:

In addition to performance and functionality, software security is crucial, especially for railway companies that are part of critical infrastructure and subject to special security requirements. Since the 2024.1 release, users of RailOpt WEBapplications can already log in via OpenID Connect (OIDC). With the 2024.2 release, this option is now also available for the RailOpt client. Thus, the proven OIDC identity authentication protocol can also be used to control client access while better protecting user identities. A final change in the Fall Release worth mentioning is the migration to Jakarta EE. With this step, we have laid a solid foundation for future developments. This allows us to benefit from continuous advancements by an active developer community in the Java ecosystem. Although this innovation is not immediately apparent, it will manifest in the future by enabling us to continue developing and presenting robust and scalable software solutions.

We thank our team for their dedicated work and the active user community for their constructive feedback, which directly flows into the development process. After the release is before the release, and we are already looking forward to introducing more innovative features and developments with R2025.1 soon!

We are excited to introduce the new semi-annual release 2024.1. This update demonstrates our ongoing commitment to further develop RailOpt and provide innovative and proactive solutions. Our goal is to give our users a competitive edge in the railway industry.

This is achieved primarily by consistently supporting the increasingly complex work of planners and dispatchers with automation through RailOpt. Potential human errors are continuously reduced, and work potential is freed up.

Following the major steps taken with the 2023.2 release, particularly with the introduction of automatic personnel allocation and the enhanced UI of the planning module, this path will be consistently pursued with R2024.1. At this point, we would like to present two highlights from the current release.

Track Layout: The clarity in the planning modules has been further improved through visual support.

• With the new feature, you can easily add graphical representations of track layouts and individual storage areas to operational points.
• By accessing the master data in RailOpt, an always up-to-date, visualized layout of the operational points is created.
• The visualization of track lengths, current storage, etc., makes planning work easier for dispatchers and supports them in their decisions.
• You can quickly and easily navigate between individual storage areas via web links.
• Your on-site personnel also receive an up-to-date layout of the surroundings through access via RailOpt WEB, allowing them to move more safely and cautiously.

Qualification Management Enhancements: When planning operations, not only legal requirements must be considered. Railway companies often have specific requirements for execution. Therefore, it is now possible to verify qualifications based on the responsible railway company.

• Specific qualifications of other railway companies can be created in RailOpt.
• For example, if a railway company requires special local knowledge for a stop, this can be stored there.
• If this knowledge is not considered when planning an operation, a conflict message appears with reference to the regulation of the responsible railway company.
• The new qualification management significantly simplifies data management and maintenance.
• You always have an overview of whether it is your own requirements or those of other railway companies.

Our recent progress is thanks to the dedicated work of our team and the active participation of our user community, who continuously support us with valuable feedback. Preparations for the fall release 2024.2 are already in full swing. We look forward to presenting you with more innovative features and improvements soon. Thank you to our users for their trust and continued involvement in the development of our platform.

On June 12 and 13, the annual RailOpt User Group Meeting took place once again. This time, it was held at a historic site in Olten, near the railway kilometer 0 of Switzerland. Since the participants of the meeting, both from the railway companies and Qnamic, are all railway enthusiasts, a visit with a guided tour at SBB Historic was a perfect fit. Many unique exhibits and some historical anecdotes delighted the participants.

But of course, it wasn’t just about reminiscing the past. The first day of the meeting began with the presentation of the Release Highlights 2024.1, which will also be presented here shortly. The focus was particularly on the innovations in qualification management, which make the administration and monitoring of personnel qualifications significantly more efficient and cost-effective.

Following this, Urs Oberholzer (SOB) presented future developments in European railway traffic. The technical requirements and impacts on planning processes in the course of the TMS introduction were then vividly discussed. In this context, Qnamic also presented the new possibilities of the DSS regarding construction site planning and automatic personnel assignment (see also Fall release 2023.2 • QNAMIC)

On the second day, the focus was particularly on stabling planning in dispatching (Excelling at digitalization: CFL goes live with digital depot planning • QNAMIC). The new track diagram as well as the solutions for automatic coupling and personnel changes were also presented. To conclude the event, Silvan Zeiter provided an exciting insight into the use of RailOpt DIS at the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn.

With the amount of topics to be discussed, the exciting discussions, and the engaging input from the guest speakers, the two days of the meeting flew by. We certainly could have filled another two days. But as the saying goes, you should stop when it’s at its best, and we are already looking forward to the User Group Meeting 2025!