Europe’s future railway engineers will test their 1:5-scale working locomotives at the European Railway Challenge, a competition taking place June 5–7 in Bad Schussenried, Germany. The event is sponsored by Alpha Trains and organized by the Aachen University of Applied Sciences.
The annual event is initiated and organized by the Aachen University of Applied Sciences and offers student teams a practical platform for developing and testing innovative railway vehicle concepts.
The competition is held under the name Alpha Trains European Railway Challenge and brings together teams from several European countries. Participants design and build functional locomotives on a 1:5 scale, which are then tested under conditions close to real-world operation.
Scale-model locomotives, tested under real-world conditions
The vehicles built by the students are tested on a model railway track with a gauge of 10.25 inches (260.35 mm) in the town of Bad Schussenried, in the Upper Swabia region of Germany.
The tests cover several technical categories, such as traction, braking performance, reliability, energy efficiency, and ride comfort.
The aim of the competition is to expose future engineers to the technical, economic, and sustainability challenges of the railway sector in a practical, not just theoretical, format.
Record number of participating teams
This year’s edition marks a record number of participants, with eight teams registered: EAGLE, from the Nuremberg University of Applied Sciences; PUTtrain, from the Poznań University of Technology, Poland; FH2Rail, from the Aachen University of Applied Sciences; Loc.KA.engineering e.V., from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology; Next Stop: Innovation!, from Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences; Heron, from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK; ifs Charlemagne Express, from RWTH Aachen University; Locomotive Engineering Team, from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
A team from Sri Lanka, Ceylonic E Rail, was forced to withdraw but intends to participate in 2027.
“Creativity and a passion for railways are core values of our company. The Alpha Trains European Railway Challenge impressively demonstrates the potential of the new generation of railway engineers. As a sponsor of this competition, we want to directly promote young talent who, through creative and practical approaches, will shape the innovative and environmentally friendly rail transport of tomorrow,” said Jörg Hagemeyer, Engineering Director at Alpha Trains.
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