A lifetime dedicated to safe rail automation

Today’s trains communicate. Operations control systems are their intelligent brains. They control, dispatch and supervise operations on lines, at stations and in the infrastructure. Electronic und digital interlockings ensure safety. They check whether track sections are clear, set routes and use signals to provide information about both movement authorities and speeds. The track-to-train communication is ensured through automatic train control systems: Trains are notified about the line ahead and the permissible speed and, if necessary, automatically braked. These advantages of digitalization and automation make train travel safe for passengers.

Using standard commercial systems, Jens Braband and his team have provided trains with safe communication and control, from the transmission of critical data using the European Train Control System (ETCS) to the digital interlocking (DSTW). The mathematician has been involved in safety research for rail automation for almost 30 years. His algorithms are largely responsible for the fact that technologies like WiFi, GSM, smartphones, the cloud, and Ethernet can be used in trains and infrastructure and are also protected against cyberattacks. Braband has had a decisive influence on safe digitalization and automation. For his accomplishments, he has been named Inventor of the Year in the Lifetime Achievement category and holds 120 patents in 66 patent families.

“I like to identify problems and then try to find models that describe and solve them,” says Braband. This has been his approach throughout his entire professional career. “Mathematical models make assumptions about complex reality. You can then make a prediction without have to execute or test it over and over again.” What’s important is that the models don’t have to be exact in every detail. “It’s enough if they provide a good enough description of reality,” explains Braband. In terms of railway safety, this means: “The models have to be good enough to keep the risk reliably below a limit value.”

Braband has not only developed these models but has also been largely responsible for convincing standardization bodies and certification authorities that a “risk-based” approach is reliable and trustworthy. “That was a paradigm shift,” says Braband. For example, for a long time the security of communication processes in the railway industry relied on proprietary systems and redundancy. “The risk-based approach enabled secure, single-channel communication using commercial products such as WiFi.” To implement such ground-breaking changes, Braband has had to spend his scientific career challenging opposing viewpoints and learning from his defeats. “Again and again, I’ve found that it’s important to question fundamentals if you want to make progress,” he asserts.

Since his youth, he’s always been fortunate to find people who “demanded a lot of me but also had a lot of confidence in me,” which is why he now promotes young talent, including students in his role as honorary professor at TU Braunschweig, and employees in Siemens Mobility’s trainee program. “I hook them up with the world’s top experts.” However, says Braband, a lot of good ideas are also formed in personal conversations. “Our co-working spaces and cafeterias at our location are ideal venues for exchanging ideas.” His objective is to make rail automation even more efficient through automation and digitalization. “That has been driving me throughout my entire professional career.”