photo: RAILTARGET/Seminar on Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) in Bratislava started
A seminar on Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) took place on Wednesday, attended by DAC ambassador Libor Lochman, ERJU chief Carlo Borghini and ÖBB technical director Mark Topal-Gökceli.
The seminar will discuss the current status of the introduction of Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) in Europe, what the EDDP program is about, who it is for, what technical type of coupling it is, and what the timetable is. It will also present the financing of coupling equipment for wagons and locomotives and the view of the Slovak railway sector on the plan for the introduction of DAC in Europe.
9:00 Libor Lochman, DAC Ambassador "If we don't all get on the same page, couplings can lead to mass disaster."
9:30 Carlo Borghini, head of the ERU spoke about Europe's Rail Innovation Programme to ensure digitization and automation, and competitiveness. According to him, it is essential to complete the development of Type 4 and Type 5 couplers in the next two years to be able to focus on testing DAC in the field and therefore be able to subsequently implement it in freight trains by 2030.
9:55 ÖBB Technical Director Mark Topal-Gökceli started his presentation by stressing the importance of us all working together, as this is the only way to get DAC in place. He demonstrated his efforts to convince others of this railway technology through the former transition to smartphones. In his view, the implementation of DAC is no different from other upgrades that humanity has already gone through. More than 80 companies are currently actively participating in the European DAC Delivery Programme he presented, and Topal hopes that number will grow.
Oldřich Sládek from ŽESNAD.cz responded to the "Big Bang" migration plan, which was not mentioned enough at the seminar, and expressed his fears that it will not work. This topic needs to be discussed in more depth and is a very distant topic in time.
Jan Biznár, AROSU President expressed his admiration for the people involved in the development of the DAC and strongly agrees with its implementation. He was skeptical of the alleged savings. The cost-benefit analysis will not work out, in his opinion.
11:45 Roman Sklenar from ZSSK Cargo presented the Slovak perspective on DAC implementation. He said that the Slovaks already have experience with the use of SA-3 couplers on the Uzhhorod-Kosice line, which is 87 km long. A large part of his presentation was an overview of the age of Slovak wagons and locomotives available to ZSSK and their financing.