You are here
VDB Young Talent Award
Blanca Roßberg, student of rail vehicle technology, receives the VDB Young Talent Award for her student research project on ETCS for rail vehicles. The award was presented to her at InnoTrans, the international trade fair for transport technology, on September 23, 2024 in Berlin.
Blanca Roßberg is one of three winners of this year's VDB Young Talent Award, the “Clean Mobility Award”, for her student research project entitled “Investigations into the ETCS upgrade of rail vehicles for branch lines under installation space aspects”.
VDB Young Talent Award “Clean Mobility Award”
With the “Clean Mobility Award”, the German Railway Industry Association VDB annually honours innovative scientific work that deals with climate-friendly technologies, rail mobility 4.0 or the digitalization of the rail industry. This year marks the 4th time that the VDB has presented its young talent award.
Ms. Roßberg is studying mechanical engineering with a specialization in rail vehicle technology at TU Dresden. She completed her student research project at the Chair of Rail Vehicle Technology as part of her research internship at the German Center for Rail Traffic Research (DZSF).
In her student research project, Ms. Roßberg explored the possibilities of retrofitting existing vehicles with ETCS technology. The new train control system ETCS (European Train Control System) is to be introduced across the board by 2024. The aim of the study was to compare the limited installation space of existing vehicle fleets in smaller numbers with the system components available on the market. In the vehicle groups of locomotives, rail service vehicles and historic vehicles, the installation space considerations yielded positive results for ETCS retrofitting, with a few exceptions. As a result, development potentials for the vehicles, the ETCS components and the railroad system were identified. These offer initial orientation and an overview for vehicle owners, approaches for further development for component manufacturers as well as development potential and regulatory adaptation options for ETCS.
Ms. Roßberg is currently working as a student trainee at DB Systemtechnik, where she will also be writing her thesis. She was also a scholarship holder of the MINT support program FemTec.
We would like to congratulate Blanca Roßberg on her award and wish her all the best and every success for the future.
Originalautor
I really enjoyed the challenge and at the same time the enrichment of the research. The topic has furthered my technical understanding of ETCS and the interaction between different players in the rail sector.