Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Olja Barbir

Olja Barbir graduated from TU Wien, Vienna in 2022. Her doctoral thesis deals with the topic of the development of condition-based tamping.

Since 2021, she is a System Engineer at Plasser & Theurer.

Dr. Jose Estaire

Jose Estaire works at the Labortorio de Geotecnia – CEDEX as a senior consultant in geotechnical engineering and was also assistant professor at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid since 2000 to 2017. Currently, he is the responsible of the CEDEX Track Box, a testing facility in which 1:1 scale models of railway track sections can be studied.

He was one of the members of CEN-SC7-PT6 (the final drafting committee of Second Generation Eurocode 7) and was also the convenor of the committee that drafted UIC guidelines relative to design and maintenance of earthworks (UIC IRS 70719 and 70722).

Thomas Gamsjäger

Thomas Gamsjäger joined Getzner Werkstoffe in 2010 as a Product Manager for Industrial applications and he developed the application floating floors in rail cars to the major industrial application within Getzner. 

2017 he took over the lead of this business segment as Senior Vice President of Industry Division. After five years he was assigned as Senior Vice President of the Railway Division beginning of 2022, the biggest business segment at Getzner Werkstoffe. 

Since that time, he is responsible for Product Management, Product Development and Marketing & Communications for the complete Railway business at Getzner. He and his team are mainly responsible for creating and developing the benefits Vibration Isolation, Superstructure Protection and Noise Reduction by bringing in elastic solutions into Railway superstructure, like Under Sleeper Pads, Under Ballast Mats, Mass Spring Systems, Rail Pads and Baseplate Pads.

Adrian Hürlimann

Adrian Hürlimann is the owner and CEO at Hürlimann Railtec AG. He has a diploma in wood and building protection. 

Hürlimann Railtec AG is a young and innovative sister company of Hürlimann Bautenschutz AG. It first bonded ballast in 2014 using an inhouse innovation The company has a globally patented system for ballast bonding

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Fritz Kopf

Fritz Kopf is head of department: Geotechnics and Natural hazards, expert for soil mechanics, dynamic compaction and vibration at FCP Fritsch, Chiari & Partner ZT GmbH.

He studied at the Vienna University of Technology and has a PhD in Civil Engineering.

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Uwe Kutscher

Uwe Kutscher studied at the Technische Fachhoschule Berlin and is a Dipl.-Ing. in Civil Engineering and Traffic Route Construction.

He works at Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), where he is head ot department traffic route construction for the subway.

Dr. Christoph Kuttelwascher

Christoph Kuttelwascher is team leader at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG – SAE – Fahrwegtechnik Gleisbau – Technik und Qualität (track technology and track construction – technology and quality)

His team “Track Construction – Technology and Quality” is responsible for the technical approval of:

track construction machines and the quality assurance of materials and working methods. They create the starting point for the construction of safe railway facilities with modern, economical track construction methods.

Marc Ledet

Marc Ledet is an expert in track geometry and vehicle / track interaction. He works at SNCF Résau where he is responsible for the maintenance and regeneration policies for SNCF Réseau’s high-speed network.

He joined SNCF in 1985, and after in-house training, he managed various maintenance and works structures. In 1993, he managed a track and civil engineering maintenance Unit for part of the new North high-speed line. In 2002, he joined SNCF’s Industrial and Engineering Department to help implement best practice on HSL. He contributed to the development and deployment of absolute tamping method, use of DTS, improvement of rail quality and use of high-speed measurement train (IRIS 320) to improve the durability of interventions.

Martin Li

Martin Li works as a Senior engineer at Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) and is responsible for track dynamics, vehicle-track interaction, track geometry quality and other related track issues.

He studied Structural dynamics, Solid mechanics, Finite element method and holds a Ph.D. in engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Structural Mechanics Göteborg, Sweden.

Antonio Merheb

Antonio Merheb is Chairman of the International Heavy Haul Association, currently working as consultant at MRS Logistics, a Heavy Haul railroad operator located in southeast Brazil. 

PhD in Transportation Infrastructure at the Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo. Graduated as a civil engineer with a concentration in geotechnics. Graduate Certificate in Railroad Engineering – University of Delaware.

Antonio is responsible for strategy and planning of the track components, a position he has held for the past 9 years. He acts in the railway area mainly in themes related to the development and innovation of materials and railway systems. Focus on the best track design and maintenance, assisting in the adoption of technologies to minimize costs and promote high reliability systems.

Jan Mys

Jan Mys has more than 28 years of experience at Infrabel, having held various positions such as Track Design Manager, General Manager at Asset Management Direction and was responsible for Budgeting & Controlling. Jan is also a Guest Professor at the Ghent University for Railways since 2011.

He joined Global Rail Group in 2021 as the Director of Global Rail Consulting & Engineering.

Dr.-Ing. Sophie Nottbeck

After studying civil engineering at TUM (2012), Sophie Nottbeck obtained the qualification of construction supervisor railroad at Deutsche Bahn Netz AG and worked in this position in the period 01.01.2013 to 01.10.2015. 

Since 01.12.2014 until 31.03.2021, she has been employed as a research assistant at the Chair of Road, Railway and Airfield Construction at TUM. In October 2020, she successfully completed her PhD on “Experimental and theoretical investigations for the optimization of the dynamic track stabilizer (DTS) with a view to improving track stability”.

Sophie Nottbeck is the specialist for track analysis and maintenance procedures at Deutsche Bahn Netz AG since 2020. 

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Oberhauser

Andreas Oberhauser has more than 14 years of experience at Wiener Linien, where he held leading positions such as Head of the Department of Infrastructure Inspection. From 2011 he was responsible for the inspection of bridges, tunnels and stations, and was the Head of Permanent Way from 2018 onwards. Andreas is also a lecturer at the TU Wien and FH St.Pölten on railway maintenance.  

He joined Global Rail Group at the end of 2021. Since 2022 he is a member auf Global Rail Group as Senior Manager Consulting and Knowledge Management.

Miguel Rodriguez Plaza

Miguel Rodrigues Plaza is Head of R&D Project Development at Adif. Currently he is responsible of R&D Project Development Department throughout Business Strategy Directorate at Spanish state-owned railway infrastructure manager, ADIF. 20 years in R&D managing railway research projects.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and a master’s degree in engineering Geology. 

Dr.-Ing. Walter Stahl

Walter Stahl is Academic Director at the Chair and Institute of Road, Railway and Airfield Construction, (Prüfamt für Verkehrswegebau).
He has studied Civil Engineering at the Technical University Munich, completed his doctoral thesis on high-speed lines in ballasted track in 1998. In different positions, he was responsible for testing of track components and in situ measurements. Besides the research work in the lab, he is mentoring several doctoral theses (e.g. lateral track stability and optimization of the dynamic track stabilizer
Dr. Stahl is member in several committees of national and international organizations for standards for railway track. He has also a teaching appointment with the University Federal Armed Forces: “Construction and operation of Railways”.

Detlev Suchanek

Detlev Suchanek is Director GR Media, a division of Global Rail Group.  He is the founder of the predecessor company of today’s Global Rail Media in 2017

He has more than 40 years of experience in the B2B media business and in the rail and public transport industry. From 1990 to 2017, he managed the Technology and Transport Division of the international DVV Media Group. 

Detlev is responsible for curating the knowledge base, for media material and for media services.

Nevenka Vandenbossche

Nevenka Vandenbossche is a construction engineer at Infrabel, where she is the technical manager for various railway products. 

The following products fall under her expertise: level crossing panels (both rubber and concrete), plastic sleepers, insulating joints and concrete products. Developing the technical- and quality requirements of these products is her responsibility. Vandenbossche is also a member of the UIC Group Polymeric Composite Sleepers (WG 16).

David Villalmanzo

David Villalmanzo is a Civil Engineer graduated in the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 1999, working in RENFE and later in Adif since 2002. His domain of work is linked to Maintenance & Operations on the Infrastructure & Track domains, in different posts until 2015 when he became Deputy Director Track in 2015.

Since 2020, he is Responsible of the Management Area for R+D+i Strategic Partnerships at ADIF, including the coordination of activities in Europe’s Rail JU for the entity.

Formerly a member of the Track Experts Group (TEG) within the UIC Rail System Forum. Also was an Infrastructure Senior Advisor detached by ADIF in UIC between 2017 and 2020.  In 2021 he was appointed as Chairman of the TTI Sector – UIC Rail System Forum.

Cédric Simon-Nguyen

Cédric SIMON has joined SNCF in 2009, he is now a technical and scientific expert for SNCF Reseau.

He is the expert for the track work standards concerning CWR (continuous welded rail) and geometry and the 3D ballast project manager: automatic analysis of ballast section with point cloud.

Formerly, he was the international representative of SNCF for the standardization of track IFC (BIM)

Dipl.-Ing. Bernhard Antony

Bernhard Antony completed his civil engineering studies at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna in 2015. In his master’s thesis, he dealt with the vibrations of the Dynamic Track Stabilizer and their influence on buildings in the near field of the tracks.

He joined Plasser & Theurer as a project manager in 2016. He was responsible for research projects on track superstructure. In November 2019 he became head of the P&T Technology Centre.

Dr.-Ing. Walter Stahl

Walter Stahl is Academic Director at the Chair and Institute of Road, Railway and Airfield Construction, (Prüfamt für Verkehrswegebau).
He has studied Civil Engineering at the Technical University Munich, completed his doctoral thesis on high-speed lines in ballasted track in 1998. In different positions, he was responsible for testing of track components and in situ measurements. Besides the research work in the lab, he is mentoring several doctoral theses (e.g. lateral track stability and optimization of the dynamic track stabilizer
Dr. Stahl is member in several committees of national and international organizations for standards for railway track. He has also a teaching appointment with the University Federal Armed Forces: “Construction and operation of Railways”.

David Villalmanzo

David Villalmanzo is a Civil Engineer graduated in the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 1999, working in RENFE and later in Adif since 2002. His domain of work is linked to Maintenance & Operations on the Infrastructure & Track domains, in different posts until 2015 when he became Deputy Director Track in 2015.

Since 2020, he is Responsible of the Management Area for R+D+i Strategic Partnerships at ADIF, including the coordination of activities in Europe’s Rail JU for the entity.

Formerly a member of the Track Experts Group (TEG) within the UIC Rail System Forum. Also was an Infrastructure Senior Advisor detached by ADIF in UIC between 2017 and 2020.  In 2021 he was appointed as Chairman of the TTI Sector – UIC Rail System Forum.

Laurent Schmitt