Welcome to AI4RAILS 2020

1st International Workshop on

“Artificial Intelligence for RAILwayS”

colocated with EDCC 2020

September 7, 2020

Munich, Germany

The link to the join the live is https://intelvs.on24.com/vshow/EDCC2020


Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop will be held online and there will be no registration fee.


The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques on industry has been so disruptive that it gave rise to a new wave of research and applications. Several industries, mainly in logistics and manufacturing, have benefited significantly from AI adoption and this positive trend is planned to be kept in the future. Modern and future railways represent one of the fields in which AI is expected to have a significant impact in a medium to long term perspective, in order to get higher levels of automation. On the one hand, this opens for unprecedented scenarios for railway systems, but on the other hand, it also raises concerns regarding system dependability and new threats associated with a high level of autonomy.

Therefore, the first step towards the adoption of AI in the railway sector is understanding to what extent AI can be considered reliable, safe and secure. In such a context, building upon the ongoing Shift2Rail project RAILS (Roadmaps for the AI integration in the raiL Sector), the aim of AI4RAILS 2020 is to provide a forum for researchers, practitioners and business leaders to discuss and share new perspectives, ideas, technologies and solutions for an effective and dependable integration of AI techniques in rail-based transportation systems.


The program includes:

  • two keynotes, from Jens Braband - Siemens Mobility GmbH and Giorgio Travaini - Head of Research & Innovation at Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking,

  • a 2H tutorial, from Stefano Olivieri & Alessio Conte - the MathWorks.

The detailed program is available here.

Information on the registration procedure is available here.


Themes and Goals

AI4RAILS is a new event and the first workshop specifically addressing topics related to the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in railway application. The ambition of AI4RAILS is to be the first of a series of workshops intended as a reference forum for international researchers and industry practitioners providing their novel ideas, results and experiences on smart-railways in the general context of intelligent transportation systems. Future railways represent one field in which AI is expected to have a significant impact in a medium to long term perspective especially in terms of autonomous and cooperative driving, predictive maintenance and traffic management optimization. This opens for unprecedented scenarios for railway systems but also raises concerns regarding system dependability and new threats associated with a high level of autonomy. Therefore, the first step towards the adoption of AI in the railway sector is understanding to what extent AI can be considered reliable, safe and secure.

The aim of the 1st AI4RAILS workshop is to provide a forum for researchers, practitioners and business leaders to discuss and share new perspectives, ideas, technologies and solutions for an effective and dependable integration of AI techniques in rail-based transportation systems. Since the workshop is associated with the aforementioned EU project, its international program committee will also include the reputable members of project Advisory Board, i.e., railway stakeholders and companies operating in the AI and railway sectors as well as organizations and research centres representing the S2R JU.


Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • AI for railway safety, availability, reliability and security

  • Transferability to railways of AI approaches from other sectors (e.g., avionics, automotive, etc.)

  • Autonomous and cooperative train driving, including virtual coupling

  • Automatic detection of railway signals and obstacles

  • Railway predictive maintenance and defect detection

  • AI for rail traffic planning and management

  • Adversarial perturbations to AI with a focus on railway case-studies

  • Resource allocation with a focus on railway case-studies

  • Run-time model checking and AI with a focus on railway case-studies

  • Explainable and trustworthy AI in railway applications

  • Safe autonomy standards and railway certification of compliance

  • Railway datasets and real-world case studies

Important Dates

Paper submission deadline: June 1st, 2020 → June 15th, 2020 (firm deadline)

Author notification: June 29th, 2020 → July 2nd, 2020

Camera-ready paper due: July 12, 2020 (firm deadline)

Paper submission

Submitted papers must be unpublished and not considered elsewhere for publication. Submissions will undergo a rigorous review process handled by the Technical Program Committee. Papers will be selected based on their originality, significance, relevance, and clarity of presentation. Only electronic submissions in PDF format through the submission site (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ai4rails) will be considered.

The AI4RAILS proceedings will be published by Springer in the series Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS).

Authors of best papers will be invited to submit revised and extended versions of their manuscripts to a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (TBC).

Papers must be in English, up to 12 pages in Springer format, including references and appendices. Information for authors, LaTeX and Microsoft Word templates, as well as formatting guidelines, can be found here.

Workshop Chairs & Organizers

Program Committee Members

    • László Ady, NextTechnologies, Hungary

    • Ali Balador, RISE, Sweden

    • Nikola Bešinović, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

    • Shahina Begum, Mälardalen University, Sweden

    • Jens Braband, Siemens Mobility GmbH , Germany

    • Aida Causevic, Bombardier Transportation, Sweden

    • Domenico Di Nardo, SYENMAINT, Italy

    • Pasquale Donadio, Comesvil SpA, Italy

    • Francesco Flammini, Mälardalen University & Linnaeus University, Sweden

    • Rob Goverde, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

    • Luca Hudasi, NextTechnologies, Hungary

    • Leonardo Impagliazzo, Hitachi Rail STS, Italy

    • Zhiyuan Lin, University of Leeds, UK

    • Stefano Marrone, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Italy

    • Stefano Marrone, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

    • Claudio Mazzariello, Hitachi Rail STS, Italy

    • Roberto Nardone, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy

    • Stefano Olivieri, The MathWorks, Italy

    • Antonio Picariello, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

    • Egidio Quaglietta, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

    • Roberto Nappi, SYENMAINT, Italy

    • Alexander Romanovsky, Newcastle University, UK

    • Carlo Sansone, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

    • Stefania Santini, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

    • Dániel Tokody, NextTechnologies, Hungary

    • Valeria Vittorini, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Sponsor