Railways have always played a significant role in the development of the wealth creation capabilities of society. The early roman wagonways, the steam driven railways during the industrial revolution and the electric railways of the late nineteenth and twentieth century are just a few of the railway systems that have played a vital role in past infrastructure development. The search for a fast, reliable and cost effective means of transport that presents better energy efficiency and less impact on the environment has resulted in renewed interest and rapid development in railway technology. Following the success of many special sessions on railway technology, held over the last few years in the Civil-Comp Conference series, a new conference series was created in 2012. The first conference was held in: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 2012; the second in Ajaccio, Corsica, in 2014; the third in Cagliari, Sardinia in 2016; and the fifth in Sitges, Barcelona in 2018.

The range of topics to be considered during this Conference includes (but is not limited to):

Rolling Stock

• Rolling stock design, manufacture and maintenance
• Modelling and Simulation: Railway dynamics, Structural analysis, Crashworthiness, Wheel-rail interaction, Pantograph-catenary dynamics, Wear and Fatigue
• High speed trains
• Light railways and trams
• Technologies to increase freight capacity
• Bogies technology
• Field and laboratory testing
• Performance and optimisation
• Aerodynamics and crosswind
• Noise, vibration and comfort
• Traction and braking
• Safety, security and reliability
• Ergonomics and interior design

Infrastructure

• Railway structures: Bridges, tunnels and transition zones
• Track design, construction and maintenance
• Interaction of vehicles with the infrastructure
• Foundations
• Track monitoring
• Trackbeds: Sleepers and ties
• Geotechnical aspects: Earthworks, embankments, stabilisation
• Technologies for track defects detection
• Station design

Energy and Environment

• Re-use of kinetic energy
• Energy sources and smart grids
• Hybrid traction and power trains
• Sustainable rail transport

Signalling and communication

• ERTMS - European Rail Traffic Management System
• ITS - Information and Technology Systems

Operations

• Railway systems operation
• Traffic management
• Interoperability
• Intermodal solutions
• Customer interfaces
• Timetabling
• Logistics

Strategies and Economics

• Railway transport: Capacity and cost
• Track access charges
• Cost implications
• Pricing
• Planning and policies
• Future trends in railway engineering
• Railways: History, heritage and education

The Conference Chairmen and Editor is Professor J. Pombo, Institute of Railway Research, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, and LAETA, IDMEC, IST - University of Lisbon & ISEL - Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, Portugal.

The Conference Editorial Board is currently being assembled.

A number of special sessions will be organised at this Conference. If you wish to participate in a special session please indicate this when you submit your paper proposal. Over the coming months the list of special sessions will gradually grow. Please visit this page regularly to keep up to date.

The list of special sessions is being assembled. Proposals for the organisation of a special session on your specialist topic including six or more papers are welcome.

Proposals for special sessions may be sent to the conference editor via: rweditor2020  AT civil-comp.info

Abstracts accepted for presentation at the conference will be available for participants to view and download via the Elsevier secure system, access to the system will be supplied to all registered attendees prior to the start of the conference.

The original 1200 word abstract submitted to the conference will be made available via the secure system and a shorter 400 word version of the abstract will be available via the conference app.

Papers presented at the Railways 2020 conference are eligible for submission to a special issue of the International Journal of Railway Technology after the conference. The details of the submission procedures will be given during the conference. The review process and submission process will start in October 2020.

The venue for the conference is the Palau de Congressos de Palma, Mallorca, Spain.

All presentations, lunches and coffees will be at this location.