At InnoTrans 2026, one topic came up again and again in conversations at our stand: how can rail turn the rapid progress in AI and digitalisation into real improvements in daily operations?
Across the four days of InnoTrans, many conversations came back to the same challenges: How can people and assets be used more efficiently? How can operational teams make better decisions when disruptions occur? And how can AI and automation help without requiring companies to replace the systems they already rely on?
These are not new questions. But as technology develops, the opportunities to address them are changing.
We believe the answer starts with a simple principle: technology should solve real operational problems, not create another layer of complexity.
From Managing Complexity to Making Better Decisions
Rail operations bring together workforce availability, qualifications, working time regulations, rolling stock, infrastructure constraints and customer requirements. When something changes, the impact can spread across an entire operation.
Many organisations use different digital systems to manage these areas. While these systems are valuable, they can also create information silos. The next step is therefore not necessarily to add more systems. It is to connect the information that already exists and make it more useful.
This is where AI and automation can make a practical difference: bringing information together, identifying patterns, automating repetitive tasks and supporting people when decisions need to be made quickly.
Connecting People and Assets
Workforce planning and crew rostering are good examples. A shift depends on qualifications, availability, working time rules and the resources needed to deliver the service.
That is why we have extended WILSON beyond workforce management with Asset Management. Personnel and equipment can now be planned together, creating a more complete operational picture and reducing the gaps between traditionally separate planning processes.
The goal is simple: give planners the information they need to allocate resources more effectively and respond to changes with greater confidence.
Supporting Decisions When Operations Get Disrupted
The same principle applies once a service is already running.
When a disruption occurs, operational teams often need to gather information from several sources before they can decide what to do. Valuable time is spent searching, checking and connecting information manually.
Our CLARA digital AI dispatching assistant addresses this challenge by connecting information from existing operational systems and communication channels, identifying relevant deviations and suggesting possible next steps.
CLARA is not designed to replace the dispatcher. It helps turn large amounts of information into an actionable overview, so the people responsible for operations can make decisions faster and with better information.
Making Planning More Intelligent
There is another opportunity beyond decision support: automating complex planning processes.
Building shifts, assigning employees, planning vehicle rotations or checking operational constraints can involve significant manual effort. With M79 Intelligence, we are developing intelligent tools for precisely these challenges.
They analyse operational data, apply complex rules and automate specific planning processes, while remaining connected to the systems companies already use.
This approach is deliberately different from introducing one large, new platform for everything. The tools are designed to address individual challenges and integrate into existing environments.
The Next Phase of Rail Digitalisation
The conversations at InnoTrans reinforced something we see in our work every day: the rail industry does not need more technology simply for the sake of technology. It needs technology that works in the reality of daily operations.
For us at Menlo79, this means moving from systems that digitise processes to solutions that connect, automate and intelligently support them.
WILSON brings workforce and asset planning together. CLARA supports operational teams when disruptions occur. M79 Intelligence automates complex planning processes. Different challenges, one common idea: make existing operations smarter, rather than more complicated.
AI will continue to evolve quickly. The real opportunity for rail is to turn that progress into practical improvements – better resource utilisation, faster decisions and less manual work.
That is what we mean by RETHINKING RAIL.
This article was originally published by Menlo79.
