AI4RAILS2021

The 2nd International Workshop on

“Artificial Intelligence for RAILwayS” in 2021 (AI4RAILS2021)

co-located with EURO 2021

11-14 July, 2021

Hybrid (Athens, Greece / online). More info at:  https://euro2021athens.com/hybrid/

 

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 of railway processes. On the one hand, this opens for unprecedented scenarios for railway systems, and 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 effective, 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 is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss and share new perspectives, ideas, technologies and solutions for an effective and dependable integration of AI techniques in rail-based transport systems.

The program includes:

For practical information, see: https://euro2021athens.com/practical-information/

Themes and goals

AI4RAILS workshop is addressing topics related to the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in railway transport. AI4RAILS is set to showcase AI opportunities over the holistic railway system including traffic planning and management, passenger mobility, predictive maintenance, autonomous driving, transport  safety and policy, and including mainline and high-speed railways, metro, tram, and hyperloop. We welcome various applications of AI including machine learning, neural networks and reinforcement learning, evolutionary algorithms, computer vision and knowledge-based approaches in railway transport for both freight and passenger transport. Also, both pure AI models as well as hybrid models combining AI and optimization are foreseen.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • AI for rail traffic state predictions
  • AI for timetabling, rolling stock and crew scheduling
  • Real-time traffic and disruption management
  • Railway predictive maintenance and defect detection and prediction
  • Predicting passenger demand and flows
  • Data analytics for railway transport
  • Using AI for improving optimization models for planning and management
  • Using optimization for improving machine learning models
  • Transferability to railways of AI approaches from other sectors (e.g., aviation, road, etc.)
  • Novel problems enabled by AI techniques

Information of keynote talk

Data Science in Alstom: Our Road from Mobility Leader to Digital Giant

Dr. Nenad MIJATOVIĆ, Head of Data Science, Alstom (more info below)

Abstract

In this talk, Dr. Nenad MIJATOVIC is going to provide real-life experience on how data science has been used to accelerate digitalization in Alstom. Nenad will share Alstom’s insights on building successful data science teams, delivering proper ML and AI software modules, and dealing with data challenges in mobility. Also, he will provide some specific examples of ML and AI algorithms used to solve complex problems from data.

Bio

Dr. Nenad MIJATOVIĆ is the Head of Data Science in Alstom. He has over 20 years of algorithm development experience in a variety of areas, such as statistics, numerical optimization, machine learning, AI, and causality. Before joining Alstom, Nenad has held several R&D and leadership positions in the industry, from startups to blue-chip companies. Dr. Mijatovic’s interests are applying machine learning and AI methods for industrial applications. In his current position, Nenad leads Alstom’s data science teams responsible for delivering industrial-grade ML and AI algorithms for maintenance, operations, energy, and city flow solutions.

Detailed program is available at: The 2nd International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for RAILwayS (AI4RAILS) (Alternatively: https://www.euro-online.org/conf/euro31/program, select Stream:  The 2nd International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for RAILwayS (AI4RAILS))

Workshop organizers

  • Rob Goverde, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
  • Nikola Bešinović, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
  • Egidio Quaglietta, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
  • Zhiyuan Lin, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Official contact email: rails.project@outlook.com

Important dates

Session submission deadline: asap (contact the organizers directly)

Abstract submission deadline: 28th February, 2021  28th March 2021 (extended)

Author notification: 1st May, 2021

Conference presentation: July 11, 2021 

Special issue submission deadline (optional): to be announced

Special issue

Presenters at the AI4RAILS will be invited to submit the complete versions of their manuscripts to a special issue in a high-level transport/AI journal. More detailed information about the journal title and deadlines will be announced soon.