Program

23^rd OBERBREMSRÄTEKONFERENZ
AND 21^st INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL
EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM

22^nd to 24^th April 2026
Parkhotel Schönbrunn
Vienna

WARM-UP
WEDNESDAY, 22^nd APRIL 2026

from 15:00 | ARRIVAL OF GUESTS AT PARKHOTEL SCHÖNBRUNN, VIENNA
Registration upon hotel check-in

18:00 | MEET IN THE LOBBY of Parkhotel Schönbrunn, Vienna

18:15 | BUS TRANSFER TO HEURIGER WILTSCHKO, Wittgensteinstraße 143, 1230 Vienna

19:00 | WELCOME BY MAG. MICHAEL LUCZENSKY, Head of Directorate Railways, Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure

19:30 | WELCOME DINNER AT HEURIGER WILTSCHKO

22:30 | RETURN TO THE HOTEL BY BUS
 

INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM
THURSDAY, 23^rd APRIL 2026

9:00 | WELCOMING THE GUESTS AND OPENING OF THE SYMPOSIUM
MMag. Bernhard Gritzner, Managing Director, ÖBB-Technische Services GmbH
Dipl.-Ing. Manfred REISNER, Managing Director, Knorr-Bremse GmbH Österreich

9:20 | CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CZECH RAILWAYS‘ ROLLING STOCK
Dipl.-Ing. Jan Plomer, Chief Engineer, ČD

9:40 | BATTERY TRAINS
Dipl.-Ing stroj. Mario Simic, BSc, Project Manager for New Rolling Stock Procurement, HŽPP

10:00 | (AXLE) BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
Dipl.-Ing. (ME) Krešimir Šalamon, Head of Department Railway Dynamics & Bogie Design, KONČAR – Electric Vehicles Inc.

10:20 | COFFEE BREAK

11:00 | NEWS OF BRAKE STANDARDISATION
Dipl.-Ing. Frank Minde, Chief Expert Braking, DB Systemtechnik GmbH

11:20 | USING INFRASTRUCTURE DATA FOR EARLY DETECTION OF DEFECTIVE BRAKES ON FREIGHT CAR
Ing. Philipp Herincs, BSc, Head of Freight Cars & Special Vehicles, and
Ing. Patrik Deda, Engineering Freight Cars, ÖBB-Technische Services-GmbH

11:40 | THE EVOLUTION OF TRACK BRAKE DEVELOPMENT
Dipl.-Ing. Volker Jörgl, Director Track Brakes, Knorr-Bremse GmbH Österreich

12:00 | LUNCH

13:30 | INTELLIGENT RAIL HEAD CONDITIONING (I-SKK), BERNMOBIL PROJECT
Dr.-Ing. Felix Saur, Senior Consultant, PROSE AG

13:50 | BRAKE TESTING – FROM THE STANDARD TO THE TEST REPORT
Dipl.-Ing. Bohumil Drapal, Technical Expert & Test Manager, VÚŽ Prague

14:10 | COFFEE BREAK

14:40 | CURRENT TENDER FOR NEW RAIL VEHICLES
Dipl.-Ing. Dimitri Simon, MBA, Rail Vehicle Project Manager, Forchbahn AG

15:00 | DIGITAL AUTOMATIC COUPLING – CURRENT STATUS AND OUTLOOK FROM ÖBB & KNORR-BREMSE
Anna Kurzecka, Innovation Management, Rail Cargo Group and 
István Babos, Head of Couplers, Knorr-Bremse SfS GmbH

15:20 | END OF SYMPOSIUM
 

DINNER IN THE PARKHOTEL SCHÖNBRUNN WIEN
THURSDAY, 23^rd APRIL 2026

18:45 | MEETING POINT IN THE LOBBY

19:00 | WELCOME DRINK

19:30 | DINNER IN THE BALLROOM OF THE PARKHOTEL SCHÖNBRUNN

21:30 | APPOINTMENT OF OBERBREMSRÄTE NO. 61, 62, 63

23:00 | SHARED TOAST TO THE NEWLY AWARDED OBERBREMSRÄTE

23:30 | GET-TOGETHER IN THE HOTELBAR “BIJOUX” / END OF EVENT
 

FRIDAY, 24^th APRIL 2026

from 8:00 | CHECK OUT OF THE HOTEL (UNTIL 12:00)
then individual journey home

Subject to program modifications

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