Digitisation of the railway system does not only mean the introduction of new equipment and computer-aided procedures, but digitisation also stands for new challenges in the education and training of all those involved. This is where the Digital Rail Summer School (DRSS) comes in. In its third iteration, it took up the challenges of the three dimensions of digitalisation in railway operations - namely: IT, railway operations and licensing. This year's DRSS ended in early September 2021 with the lab and demo phase. It consisted of a week of expert lectures from academia and industry, joint project work and excursions. It was a platform for mutual teaching, mutual exchange and networking. A video review has now been published.

The organisers name the following points as results of the DRSS 2021:

•     An integrated education and training concept
•     Dissemination of results via videos/posters
•     Basic work for project applications for digitisation projects (mFUND, etc.)
•     ECTS performance points (credits) for students of the participating universities

Digital Rail Summer School is aimed at students (from all universities, all disciplines) who are interested in IT systems for railways. The focus is on embedded systems for safety-relevant functions for controlling hardware in the railway system, as well as the development of safety-critical hardware and software with model- and simulation-based approaches. Employees of Deutsche Bahn AG, friendly European railways and manufacturers of digital control and safety technology were also able to participate in DRSS 2021.

The organisers and partners of the DRSS 2021 from industry, research and teaching also include the Chair of Railway Signalling and Transport Safety Technology at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences of the TU Dresden. The chair had offered its own module to accompany the four-month DRSS 2021. As five technical universities participated in the DRSS, it also provided a platform for a lively exchange among each other.

The lectures within the laboratory and demo phase took place at the Digital Rail Campus in Jöhstadt, not far from the Digital Test Field Rail. Here, students from the TU Dresden presented their contribution to the "EULYNX-Life" project. The aim is to generate a simple interlocking logic from a PlanPro file.

The special trains of the Pressnitztalbahn also started from Jöhstadt. A diesel train went to Schmalzgrube for railway operations exercises such as carrying out a brake test and operating sequence-dependent points. A highlight was the steam train that took the participants to the evening event at the Forellenhof.